AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Buys 360,844 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,730,182 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 360,844 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned approximately 0.36% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $87,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ADM shares. Bank of America reduced their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Citigroup increased their price objective 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, Barclays reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

ADM traded up $0.18 on Wednesday, reaching $46.09. The company had a trading volume of 3,162,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,630,863. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 5.44. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52-week low of $44.92 and a 52-week high of $66.08. The company has a market cap of $22.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.53.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.40%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are 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.