Archer-Daniels-Midland Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ADM)

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 10,468 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 85% compared to the average volume of 5,658 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,359,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,150,390,000 after purchasing an additional 706,567 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,914,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,256 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,152,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,068,626,000 after buying an additional 1,722,428 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,715,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,305,000 after acquiring an additional 247,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,035,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,489,000 after acquiring an additional 275,792 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ADM shares. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America dropped their price target 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. Finally, Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Archer-Daniels-Midland currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.89.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

ADM traded up $1.89 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $51.33. The stock had a trading volume of 2,823,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,420,121. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 1 year low of $44.92 and a 1 year high of $66.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its earnings results 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. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 56.51%.

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.