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

Key Points

• Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) experienced an unusual surge in call options trading, with a 341% increase in volume to 26,246 contracts on Monday.
• Recent analyst reports have led to varying target price adjustments, with Barclays raising its target to $61.00 and UBS increasing theirs to $70.00, while the consensus price target is currently $55.50.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.51, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.5%, with a payout ratio of 89.87%.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 26,246 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 341% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,954 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer Daniels Midland

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. S.A. Mason LLC bought a new position in Archer Daniels Midland during the first quarter worth $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 297.2% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 699 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ADM. Barclays raised shares of Archer Daniels Midland from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $61.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Archer Daniels Midland from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Archer Daniels Midland from $47.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $61.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up previously from $60.00) on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a report on Monday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.50.

Archer Daniels Midland Stock Down 2.9%

ADM stock traded down $1.82 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $59.83. 4,341,997 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,503,748. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market cap of $28.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.68. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $59.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.52. Archer Daniels Midland has a 1-year low of $40.98 and a 1-year high of $64.38.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $21.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.56 billion. Archer Daniels Midland had a net margin of 1.33% and a return on equity of 8.43%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. Archer Daniels Midland has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.000-4.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Archer Daniels Midland will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer Daniels Midland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Archer Daniels Midland's payout ratio is 89.87%.

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.