Vision Financial Markets LLC Invests $244,000 in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 4,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ADM. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.5% in 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 stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,296,193 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,914,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,256 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $237,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 52.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,502,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,738,000 after purchasing an additional 514,005 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ADM. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of 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 cut their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.89.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

NYSE:ADM opened at $45.82 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.69. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a twelve month low of $44.92 and a twelve month high of $66.08. The company has a market capitalization of $21.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.