Semanteon Capital Management LP Takes Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 12,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADM. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,430,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,160,755,000 after purchasing an additional 5,702,451 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 2,296,193 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,914,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,256 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 1,007,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,473,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,340,000 after acquiring an additional 894,562 shares in the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of ADM stock opened at $46.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.32 and a 200-day moving average of $52.69. The company has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $44.92 and a one year high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has initiated 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. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ADM. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. 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 research note on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Archer-Daniels-Midland presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.63.

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.