American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 443,113 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 53,351 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.09% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $22,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 78.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ADM shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE ADM traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $47.57. The company had a trading volume of 3,908,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,598,288. 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 capitalization of $22.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.65 and a 200 day moving average of $51.91. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 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 firm had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. 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 currently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is 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.