Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Short Interest Down 6.2% in June

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,420,000 shares, a decrease of 6.2% from the May 31st total of 12,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,990,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Archer-Daniels-Midland

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 12.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,826,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,260,165,000 after buying an additional 7,320,289 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth $420,457,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,232 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 141.6% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,991,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,753,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,532,284 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ADM. Bank of America cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $62.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.72 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 0.74. Archer-Daniels-Midland 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 0.35, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $21.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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 predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 35.09%.

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.