Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Shares Bought by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,999 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,814 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tompkins Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective 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. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ADM stock opened at $62.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $58.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.67. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a twelve month low of $50.72 and a twelve month high of $87.30. The company has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $22.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 31.25%.

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.