Evanson Asset Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Evanson Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 205 shares during the period. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at about $525,111,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,232 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 1st quarter worth approximately $105,741,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,364,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,369,897,000 after buying an additional 1,314,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 73.7% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,935,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245,194 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ADM. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $116.00 to $56.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $90.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Roth Capital cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.00.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ADM traded down $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $62.79. 4,120,193 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,690,766. The company has a market cap of $32.01 billion, a PE ratio of 9.81 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.43. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52 week low of $50.72 and a 52 week high of $87.30. 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 (NYSE:ADM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.07). Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 3.71%. The firm had revenue of $22.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

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 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%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.