Rafferty Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,500 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,594 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $2,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,359,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,150,390,000 after buying an additional 706,567 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,152,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,068,626,000 after buying an additional 1,722,428 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,715,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,305,000 after buying an additional 247,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,035,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,489,000 after purchasing an additional 275,792 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% during the 4th 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ADM shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.00.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Up 0.4%

ADM stock opened at $50.20 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $47.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.25. 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 fifty-two week low of $40.98 and a fifty-two week high of $66.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.69.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $20.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.05 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.86%.

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.