Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 26.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,595 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,803 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $6,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Tompkins Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the third quarter worth $28,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the third quarter worth $30,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 37.3% in the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 641 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ADM shares. Roth Capital lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 1.1 %

ADM opened at $61.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.40. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $50.72 and a one year high of $87.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $22.98 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership 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.