Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $59.00 to $60.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Archer Daniels Midland traded as high as $67.25 and last traded at $67.22, with a volume of 1626064 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $65.88.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ADM. Morgan Stanley lowered Archer Daniels Midland from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $57.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Archer Daniels Midland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a report on Monday, December 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $54.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer Daniels Midland

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 130.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 15,068,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $900,195,000 after acquiring an additional 8,518,920 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $340,247,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Archer Daniels Midland by 8,609.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,405,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,180,000 after purchasing an additional 4,354,844 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in Archer Daniels Midland by 176.8% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,967,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich bought a new position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland in the third quarter valued at approximately $61,290,000. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Archer Daniels Midland Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.70.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $20.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.96 billion. Archer Daniels Midland had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 8.01%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. Archer Daniels Midland has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.250-3.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Archer Daniels Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer Daniels Midland Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. Archer Daniels Midland’s payout ratio is currently 83.27%.

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.