Kentucky Retirement Systems Cuts Stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,857 shares of the company’s stock after selling 453 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $1,160,755,000 after purchasing an additional 5,702,451 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,382,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,531,000 after buying an additional 2,296,193 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted 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 buying an additional 1,018,256 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,979,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,757,000 after buying an additional 1,007,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 52.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,502,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,738,000 after acquiring an additional 514,005 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of ADM opened at $48.30 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.44 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.30. The stock has a market cap of $23.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.72. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $44.92 and a 1-year high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted 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. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.51%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Stephens decreased their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.11.

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.