Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Shares Sold by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp cut its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 92.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 531 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,410 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 16,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 4,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 7,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ADM shares. Bank of America lowered 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. Stephens dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $43.32 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.74. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12 month low of $43.01 and a 12 month high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.78 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.