Sherman Asset Management Inc. Makes New $47,000 Investment in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,914,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,256 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,160,755,000 after purchasing an additional 5,702,451 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,382,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,193 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,979,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,607,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,533,000 after purchasing an additional 63,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup upped their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.89.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of ADM stock opened at $47.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.39. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $44.92 and a one year high of $66.08. The firm has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.72.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.