Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 23,534 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 560,287 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,534 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned approximately 0.12% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $28,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADM. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 724.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE ADM opened at $47.01 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12 month low of $44.92 and a 12 month high of $66.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced 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. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 56.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut 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 research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens decreased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

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.