Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys New Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Guidance Capital Inc. increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 16,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350 shares during the last quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth about $701,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 201,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,574,000 after acquiring an additional 8,502 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 412.4% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 24,250 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Alliance increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Up 0.2 %

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $60.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $30.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $57.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.77. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.72 and a fifty-two week high of $87.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 31.25%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 price target (down from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Argus cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

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.