Short Interest in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Declines By 13.3%

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,360,000 shares, a decline of 13.3% from the January 15th total of 10,800,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ADM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter valued at $333,521,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,702,451 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $524,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,193 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,145,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,914,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America dropped their price target on 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

NYSE ADM traded down $0.20 on Tuesday, reaching $45.90. 3,040,362 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,645,758. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 5.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.72. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 12 month low of $44.92 and a 12 month high of $66.08.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 4.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 55.40%.

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.