Invesco Ltd. Buys 1,420,625 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,145,818 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,420,625 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.49% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $361,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,409,000 after purchasing an additional 360,844 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 56.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,473,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,340,000 after acquiring an additional 894,562 shares during the period. Hickory Point Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter valued at $1,217,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter worth $614,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 127.7% during the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 46,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,372,000 after purchasing an additional 26,329 shares in the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ADM shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $44.35 on Thursday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12-month low of $40.98 and a 12-month high of $66.08. 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 market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $46.67 and a 200 day moving average of $51.17.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication 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.