Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 11,183 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 300,895 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,183 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $15,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ADM. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,594,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $699,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 19,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after buying an additional 1,807 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,607,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,533,000 after buying an additional 63,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ADM. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ADM opened at $46.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $48.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.64. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1 year low of $44.92 and a 1 year high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.