Madison Investment Advisors LLC Invests $8.23 Million in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 162,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,230,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 16,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 4,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 7,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ADM. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of ADM stock opened at $47.18 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $48.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.27. 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 one year low of $44.92 and a one year high of $66.08. The firm has a market cap of $22.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Profile

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.