Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Short Interest Update

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,290,000 shares, an increase of 9.1% from the March 15th total of 7,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth approximately $420,457,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,547,232 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,325,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,106,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,284 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 1st quarter valued at $105,741,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 73.7% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,935,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,194 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE ADM traded down $0.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.27. 3,032,359 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,898,910. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 1 year low of $50.72 and a 1 year high of $87.30. The stock has a market cap of $30.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.81.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted 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 return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 3.71%. The business had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Roth Capital lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. TheStreet cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Roth Mkm lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $98.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.50.

About Archer-Daniels-Midland

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.