Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Cuts Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,819 shares of the company’s stock after selling 435 shares during the quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADM. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 724.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 78.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 0.7 %

ADM opened at $46.21 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $44.92 and a fifty-two week high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program 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. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Archer-Daniels-Midland

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.