Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 245,916 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 98.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,475 shares of the company’s stock after selling 245,916 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 724.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of ADM stock opened at $48.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.13 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.77 and a 200-day moving average of $51.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $44.92 and a one year high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADM has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

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.