Atala Financial Inc Buys Shares of 6,574 Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $47.18 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.27. The stock has a market cap of $22.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12 month low of $44.92 and a 12 month 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 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ADM shares. Stephens lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays dropped their price target on 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.63.

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.