Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $99,000 Stock Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,967 shares of the company’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $99,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,409,000 after buying an additional 360,844 shares during the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth $2,339,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.4% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,138,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,011,000 after buying an additional 68,133 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,082,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,163,000 after buying an additional 489,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 55,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,813,000 after acquiring an additional 18,480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

ADM opened at $47.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $22.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.29 and a 200 day moving average of $54.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.39. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $44.92 and a fifty-two week high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ADM. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.89.

About Archer-Daniels-Midland

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company engages in the procurement, transportation, storage, processing, and merchandising of agricultural commodities, ingredients, flavors, and solutions in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition.