Short Interest in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Expands By 9.1%

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,290,000 shares, an increase of 9.1% from the March 15th total of 7,600,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ADM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $420,457,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,232 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,532,284 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the first quarter valued at approximately $105,741,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 73.7% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,935,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,815,000 after buying an additional 1,245,194 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $60.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,032,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,898,910. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $30.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.77. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 12 month low of $50.72 and a 12 month high of $87.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $57.76 and a 200 day moving average of $65.81.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 3.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ADM shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. TheStreet downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Roth Capital lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $116.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.