HTLF Bank Makes New Investment in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

HTLF Bank purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADM. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 92,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,700,000 after buying an additional 15,488 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 14,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,083,000 after buying an additional 1,814 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 49,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,555,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 60,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,385,000 after buying an additional 3,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $62.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $31.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12 month low of $50.72 and a 12 month high of $87.30.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $22.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 3.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Roth Capital downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Roth Mkm cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $98.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $96.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.50.

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.