Virtu Financial LLC Increases Stock Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 107.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,015 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,598 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,409,000 after acquiring an additional 360,844 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,473,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,340,000 after buying an additional 894,562 shares in the last quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth about $1,217,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,677,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 127.7% during the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 46,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,372,000 after acquiring an additional 26,329 shares in the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ADM. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup raised 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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 dropped their price objective 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, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $46.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $48.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1 year low of $44.92 and a 1 year high of $66.08.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company 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.