IFP Advisors Inc Raises Stock Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 78.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,172 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,779 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,409,000 after buying an additional 360,844 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,339,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.4% in the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,138,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,011,000 after buying an additional 68,133 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,082,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,163,000 after buying an additional 489,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 49.7% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 55,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 18,480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $47.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.17 and a 200 day moving average of $53.98. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52 week low of $44.92 and a 52 week high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ADM. Bank of America cut their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on 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. Stephens cut their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.89.

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.