Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after Stephens lowered their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $52.00. The stock had previously closed at $50.02, but opened at $48.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland shares last traded at $48.54, with a volume of 1,086,774 shares changing hands.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.56.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 97,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,819,000 after purchasing an additional 3,182 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.6% in the third quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 35,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,101,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares during the last quarter. City Center Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 35.1% during the third quarter. City Center Advisors LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.9% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 221,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,212,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.36 and a 200 day moving average of $55.81.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 2.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.72 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. 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 yield of 4.22%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.