Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 34,566 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 633,888 shares of the company’s stock after selling 34,566 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.13% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $32,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ADM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $333,521,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 valued at $524,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,193 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 8.9% during 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. Amundi lifted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 56.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,473,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,340,000 after buying an additional 894,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,359,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,150,390,000 after buying an additional 706,567 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Stephens reduced their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 8.9 %

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $43.32 on Monday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a twelve month low of $42.02 and a twelve month high of $66.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.67. The firm has a market cap of $20.78 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.66.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 56.51%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.