Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Boosts Stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) by 83.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,914 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,626 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,970,141 shares of the company's stock worth $148,588,000 after purchasing an additional 19,483 shares in the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 119.1% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 3,811 shares of the company's stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 15,229 shares of the company's stock worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,557 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 60,231 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,540,000 after buying an additional 11,539 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 375,325 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,307,000 after purchasing an additional 24,452 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Archer-Daniels-Midland

In other Archer-Daniels-Midland news, insider Fruit Molly L. Strader sold 6,904 shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.73, for a total value of $419,279.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,555 shares in the company, valued at $519,545.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of ADM traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $61.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,497,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,380,676. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.72 and a fifty-two week high of $87.30.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.11. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 13.87%. The business had revenue of $21.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Archer-Daniels-Midland's payout ratio is presently 35.09%.

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.