Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) by 34.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,500 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,324 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ADM. Stephens lowered their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on 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. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.00.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 0.2%

ADM traded down $0.11 on Friday, hitting $48.26. 4,963,034 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,563,558. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.39. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12 month low of $40.98 and a 12 month high of $66.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a PE ratio of 13.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.69.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The business had revenue of $20.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business's revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. Archer-Daniels-Midland's payout ratio is presently 72.86%.

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.