Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Shares Sold by Physicians Financial Services Inc.

Physicians Financial Services Inc. lessened its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 34.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,022 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,625 shares during the period. Physicians Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,914,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,256 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,430,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,160,755,000 after buying an additional 5,702,451 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,382,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,531,000 after buying an additional 2,296,193 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,979,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,757,000 after buying an additional 1,007,494 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,607,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,533,000 after purchasing an additional 63,883 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

NYSE ADM opened at $46.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.44 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.42. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52-week low of $44.92 and a 52-week high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its 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 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 company’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland 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.