Empower Advisory Group LLC Increases Stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,215,242 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 76,787 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned about 0.25% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $61,394,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,914,408,000 after buying an additional 1,018,256 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,160,755,000 after purchasing an additional 5,702,451 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,979,867 shares of the company's stock worth $237,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,607,843 shares of the company's stock valued at $215,533,000 after purchasing an additional 63,883 shares in the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock traded up $1.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.30. The company had a trading volume of 5,484,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,658,133. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $49.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.35. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52 week low of $44.92 and a 52 week high of $66.08. The company has a current ratio of 5.44, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ADM shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America cut 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup increased their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.11.

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.