Morgan Stanley Lowers Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) Price Target to $47.00

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) had its price objective reduced by Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $47.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on ADM. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ADM opened at $45.78 on Tuesday. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 12-month low of $44.92 and a 12-month high of $66.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.01. The company has a market capitalization of $21.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 5.44, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is currently 55.40%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

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.