Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 26,549 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 135,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,549 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $9,804,000 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 the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,227,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,534,000 after purchasing an additional 139,064 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.0% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,072,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,896,000 after purchasing an additional 31,700 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 543.2% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 28,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,112,000 after purchasing an additional 23,647 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 733,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,946,000 after purchasing an additional 80,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 599,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,312,000 after acquiring an additional 87,752 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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 report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $67.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 1.1 %

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $61.80 on Wednesday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a twelve month low of $50.72 and a twelve month high of $87.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.40. The company has a market capitalization of $31.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland 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.