Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Increases Dividend to $0.51 Per Share

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 4th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.51 per share on Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a dividend payout ratio of 40.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Archer-Daniels-Midland to earn $4.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.5%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 2.4 %

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $50.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.91. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a one year low of $48.40 and a one year high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ADM. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens started coverage on Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $63.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.89.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally 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.