Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on the stock from $51.00 to $49.00. The stock had previously closed at $50.02, but opened at $48.50. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Archer-Daniels-Midland shares last traded at $48.54, with a volume of 1,086,774 shares traded.

ADM has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $63.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.9% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 97,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,819,000 after purchasing an additional 3,182 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,549,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter worth approximately $112,000. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $22.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 2.07%. The firm had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.