AIA Group Ltd Trims Stock Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

AIA Group Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,854 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,151 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 724.6% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on ADM shares. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays dropped their price objective 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 decreased 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 note on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of ADM opened at $48.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $47.83 and its 200-day moving average is $52.06. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $44.92 and a one year high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its quarterly 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. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The firm had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. This is an increase 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 is presently 56.51%.

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.