Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Receives $67.50 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) have earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $67.50.

ADM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $67.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $96.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $56.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $62.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $31.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $58.28 and a 200 day moving average of $65.67. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 52 week low of $50.72 and a 52 week high of $87.30.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 15.25%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ADM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at $420,457,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,232 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,325,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,106,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,284 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the first quarter worth about $105,741,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 73.7% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,935,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,194 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.