Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Holdings Raised by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,804 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,502 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $14,574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ADM. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 71.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 7,821 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 1st quarter valued at $277,000. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 1st quarter valued at $226,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 31,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,798,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 459,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ADM shares. 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 report on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $96.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $61.74 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $50.72 and a 1-year high of $87.30. The company has a market cap of $30.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.75.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 3.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.