Meixler Investment Management Ltd. Sells 9,749 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Meixler Investment Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 56.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,548 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,749 shares during the quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ADM. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,430,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,160,755,000 after acquiring an additional 5,702,451 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,382,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,193 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,914,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,256 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,979,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 52.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,502,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,738,000 after acquiring an additional 514,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:ADM opened at $46.12 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $44.92 and a 1-year high of $66.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $50.06 and a 200 day moving average of $54.83. The firm has a market cap of $22.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.44 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ADM. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lowered 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 note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.11.

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.