Archer Daniels Midland Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ADM)

Key Points

• Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) experienced a significant increase in options trading, with 10,502 call options acquired, representing a 58% rise from average volume levels.
• Multiple brokerages have upgraded their ratings for ADM, with UBS setting a target price of $70.00 and Barclays raising their price target to $61.00.
• The company's latest quarterly earnings report indicated an EPS of $1.63 and a revenue of $21.70 billion, along with a declared quarterly dividend of $0.51 per share.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 10,502 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 58% compared to the typical volume of 6,643 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ADM. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $60.00) on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $61.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Archer Daniels Midland from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Archer Daniels Midland from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Archer Daniels Midland presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer Daniels Midland

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ADM. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 22.2% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 11,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 1,999 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 52.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,222 shares of the company's stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 3,880 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the 1st quarter valued at about $333,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,183,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.28% of the company's stock.

Archer Daniels Midland Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:ADM traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $61.41. The stock had a trading volume of 622,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,921,878. The firm has a market cap of $29.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Archer Daniels Midland has a twelve month low of $40.98 and a twelve month high of $64.38.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 2nd. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Archer Daniels Midland had a net margin of 1.33% and a return on equity of 8.43%. The company had revenue of $21.70 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts predict that Archer Daniels Midland will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer Daniels Midland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Archer Daniels Midland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.87%.

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.

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