Hartford Investment Management Co. Has $1.49 Million Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,501 shares of the company’s stock after selling 571 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth $2,339,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,138,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,011,000 after purchasing an additional 68,133 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,082,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,163,000 after purchasing an additional 489,217 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,086,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,084,000 after purchasing an additional 489,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marathon Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.5% during the third quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd now owns 303,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,110,000 after purchasing an additional 13,177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $45.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $50.29 and its 200 day moving average is $55.01. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $44.92 and a one year high of $66.08. The firm has a market cap of $21.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.44 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.53 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 55.40%.

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.