Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Stock Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,461 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,482 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 724.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of ADM stock opened at $46.21 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $44.92 and a one year high of $66.08. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ADM. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of 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. Barclays cut 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 report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.63.

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.