Empower Advisory Group LLC Buys 241,395 Shares of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Archer Daniels Midland Company by 19.9%, holding 1,456,637 shares valued at approximately $69.93 million.
• Brokerage firms have mixed ratings for Archer Daniels Midland, with UBS upgrading the stock to a "buy" and Barclays giving it an "underweight" rating, leading to an average price target of $50.29.
• Archer Daniels Midland recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.51 per share, resulting in an annual yield of 3.7% and a payout ratio of 72.86%.

Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) by 19.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,456,637 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 241,395 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned 0.30% of Archer Daniels Midland worth $69,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. S.A. Mason LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland during the first quarter worth about $25,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 297.2% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 699 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Archer Daniels Midland in the first quarter worth $37,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in Archer Daniels Midland by 43.4% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 783 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Archer Daniels Midland by 109.8% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 839 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ADM shares. Barclays upgraded Archer Daniels Midland from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America cut shares of Archer Daniels Midland from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Archer Daniels Midland from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Archer Daniels Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Archer Daniels Midland has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.86.

Archer Daniels Midland Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE ADM traded up $1.10 on Thursday, hitting $57.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,942,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,116,255. The firm has a market cap of $27.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.68. Archer Daniels Midland Company has a 52-week low of $40.98 and a 52-week high of $62.61. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $53.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $21.17 billion for 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Archer Daniels Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer Daniels Midland Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Archer Daniels Midland's dividend 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.