National Pension Service Acquires 23,894 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

National Pension Service raised its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,088,791 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,894 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.20% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $78,632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ADM. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter worth about $324,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,312,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,209,000 after purchasing an additional 109,757 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 19,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 2,638 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock traded up $0.14 on Thursday, reaching $62.17. 1,175,745 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,723,188. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.95 and a 200 day moving average of $64.43. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52 week low of $50.72 and a 52 week high of $87.30.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $21.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.26 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 3.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 35.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 target price (down from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $116.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

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.