Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Takes Position in Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,170 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland during the fourth quarter worth $8,677,000. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 82,203 shares of the company's stock worth $4,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,291 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,366 shares of the company's stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 2,183 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Archer Daniels Midland by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 211,475 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,684,000 after buying an additional 11,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland during the 4th quarter worth approximately $238,000. 78.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Archer Daniels Midland from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Archer Daniels Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group upgraded Archer Daniels Midland from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Archer Daniels Midland from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Archer Daniels Midland presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.25.

Archer Daniels Midland Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of ADM traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $54.36. 2,313,637 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,097,428. Archer Daniels Midland Company has a 12 month low of $40.98 and a 12 month high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $26.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.69. The stock's 50-day moving average is $50.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.94.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $20.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.05 billion. Archer Daniels Midland had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 1.63%. The business's revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Archer Daniels Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer Daniels Midland Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Archer Daniels Midland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.86%.

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.