Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,849 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at about $525,111,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,547,232 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the first quarter valued at approximately $105,741,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 73.7% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,935,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245,194 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 27,778.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,009,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,114,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005,577 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ADM shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $51.00 target price (down from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $60.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.60. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52-week low of $50.72 and a 52-week high of $87.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $57.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.81.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $22.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business’s revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.