Legal & General Group Plc Increases Holdings in Archer Daniels Midland Company $ADM

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Archer Daniels Midland by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, ending with 2.75 million shares valued at about $158 million.
• Several other institutional investors also added to ADM, and hedge funds and institutions now own 78.28% of the company, while insider ownership remains low at 0.60%.
• ADM reported quarterly EPS of $0.71, topping estimates, and announced a $0.52 quarterly dividend payable June 10, which implies a 2.6% annual yield.

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM - Free Report) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,748,962 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 114,635 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.57% of Archer Daniels Midland worth $158,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its position in Archer Daniels Midland by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 3,127 shares of the company's stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Archer Daniels Midland by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,555 shares of the company's stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in Archer Daniels Midland by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,436 shares of the company's stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Archer Daniels Midland by 4.5% during the third quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,085 shares of the company's stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van Cleef Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Archer Daniels Midland by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 15,522 shares of the company's stock worth $892,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gregory A. Morris sold 50,000 shares of Archer Daniels Midland stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $3,424,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 300,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,552,354.56. The trade was a 14.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ian R. Pinner sold 34,106 shares of Archer Daniels Midland stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.53, for a total value of $2,439,602.18. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 90,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,486,054.28. The trade was a 27.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Archer Daniels Midland Price Performance

NYSE:ADM opened at $79.61 on Thursday. Archer Daniels Midland Company has a 52 week low of $46.81 and a 52 week high of $83.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $38.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.70 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's fifty day moving average is $73.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.92.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.05. Archer Daniels Midland had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 1.34%.The business had revenue of $20.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Archer Daniels Midland has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.150-4.70 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Archer Daniels Midland Company will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Archer Daniels Midland Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Archer Daniels Midland's payout ratio is presently 93.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ADM shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Archer Daniels Midland from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Archer Daniels Midland from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Archer Daniels Midland from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Archer Daniels Midland from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Archer Daniels Midland from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $74.50.

About Archer Daniels Midland

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is a global agricultural processor and food-ingredient provider that sources, transports and processes oilseeds, corn, wheat and other agricultural commodities. The company operates large-scale crushing, refining and processing facilities that produce vegetable oils, protein meals, corn sweeteners, starches, ethanol, animal feeds and a wide range of food and industrial ingredients. ADM also develops specialty ingredients and solutions for human and animal nutrition, food and beverage formulation, and industrial applications such as bio-based materials and renewable fuels.

ADM's business combines commodity origination and merchandising with downstream manufacturing and ingredient formulation.

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