Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Short Interest Up 19.6% in August

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,170,000 shares, an increase of 19.6% from the August 15th total of 7,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ADM stock traded up $0.05 on Tuesday, hitting $60.46. The stock had a trading volume of 1,836,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,532,915. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.81. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 1 year low of $50.72 and a 1 year high of $80.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.19). Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $22.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Juan R. Luciano sold 45,471 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total value of $2,773,731.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,177,810. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Juan R. Luciano sold 45,471 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total transaction of $2,773,731.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,177,810. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Juan R. Luciano sold 3,683 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total value of $224,663.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,177,810. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 219,348 shares of company stock worth $13,296,833 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 15,790.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,596,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,549,083 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,826,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,260,165,000 after purchasing an additional 7,320,289 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth approximately $420,457,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 141.6% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,991,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,885,000 after buying an additional 1,753,077 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,325,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,106,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,284 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ADM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.62.

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.