Foster & Motley Inc. Buys 11,817 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 28.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,568 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,817 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $3,869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth about $416,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 4,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 103,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,509,000 after purchasing an additional 24,070 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 50,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,663,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 18,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $62.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $58.46 and a 200-day moving average of $65.48. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $50.72 and a 1-year high of $87.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $31.36 billion, a PE ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.77.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $22.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 15.25%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ADM shares. Roth Mkm lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $96.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $51.00 price target (down previously from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.50.

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.