17,074 Shares in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Purchased by Royal Fund Management LLC

Royal Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 17,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,072,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,325,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,106,830,000 after buying an additional 1,532,284 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,547,232 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,488,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $468,591,000 after acquiring an additional 217,459 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth about $420,457,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,043,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,050,000 after acquiring an additional 244,765 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 0.2 %

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Monday, reaching $61.25. The company had a trading volume of 176,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,337,308. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12-month low of $50.72 and a 12-month high of $87.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.11. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 13.87%. The firm had revenue of $21.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.09%.

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 repurchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Archer-Daniels-Midland news, insider Fruit Molly L. Strader sold 6,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.73, for a total transaction of $419,279.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,555 shares in the company, valued at $519,545.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.