Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 8,090,000 shares, a drop of 10.1% from the September 15th total of 9,000,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Juan R. Luciano sold 170,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.51, for a total transaction of $10,298,438.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 265,210 shares in the company, valued at $16,047,857.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Archer-Daniels-Midland news, CEO Juan R. Luciano sold 170,194 shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.51, for a total transaction of $10,298,438.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 265,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,047,857.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Juan R. Luciano sold 45,471 shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total transaction of $2,773,731.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 265,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,177,810. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 219,348 shares of company stock valued at $13,296,833 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 2,139 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter worth approximately $314,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth $89,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at $708,000. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.62.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,610,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,355,724. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.49 and a 200-day moving average of $60.90. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 52 week low of $50.72 and a 52 week high of $77.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $28.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23 and a beta of 0.72.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.19). Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $22.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 5.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.09%.

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.