Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 151,603 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,502 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $7,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADM. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,430,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,160,755,000 after acquiring an additional 5,702,451 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,382,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,193 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,914,408,000 after buying an additional 1,018,256 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,979,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,494 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 56.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,473,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,340,000 after acquiring an additional 894,562 shares in the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ADM. Bank of America reduced 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. Barclays decreased their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $45.96 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $22.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.48. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52 week low of $44.92 and a 52 week high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced 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 repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.