Short Interest in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Expands By 13.0%

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,250,000 shares, a growth of 13.0% from the December 15th total of 9,960,000 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the 4th 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. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 22,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,701 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 7,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 4,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 91,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,735 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Archer-Daniels-Midland stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.23. 3,234,014 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,508,151. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a one year low of $48.40 and a one year high of $68.85. The stock has a market cap of $24.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.94.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ADM shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $63.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.08.

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.