Short Interest in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Expands By 9.1%

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,290,000 shares, an increase of 9.1% from the March 15th total of 7,600,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at $420,457,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,737,000 after buying an additional 2,547,232 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,325,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,106,830,000 after buying an additional 1,532,284 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 1st quarter valued at about $105,741,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 73.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ADM shares. Barclays cut 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 report on Monday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $56.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. TheStreet cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Roth Mkm downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Archer-Daniels-Midland currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.27. The stock had a trading volume of 3,032,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,898,910. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.76 and its 200 day moving average is $65.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.77. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a one year low of $50.72 and a one year high of $87.30.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.25%.

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.