Prudential Financial Inc. Has $19.70 Million Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 55.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 389,933 shares of the company’s stock after selling 482,048 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $19,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 16,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $821,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 4,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 7,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of ADM opened at $47.01 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $44.92 and a 1-year high of $66.08. The company has a market cap of $22.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.