National Pension Service Sells 428,735 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

National Pension Service trimmed its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 34.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 822,389 shares of the company’s stock after selling 428,735 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $41,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,409,000 after acquiring an additional 360,844 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,339,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,138,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,011,000 after acquiring an additional 68,133 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,082,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,163,000 after buying an additional 489,217 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 55,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 18,480 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

ADM opened at $47.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1 year low of $44.92 and a 1 year high of $66.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.98.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on ADM shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.89.

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.