Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM)

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 60,742 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,290% compared to the average daily volume of 4,371 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David R. Mcatee II acquired 7,500 shares of Archer Daniels Midland stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.90 per share, with a total value of $486,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 7,500 shares in the company, valued at $486,750. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer Daniels Midland

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Archer Daniels Midland by 40.8% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 40,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,941,000 after purchasing an additional 11,715 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 35.6% during the second quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,954 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Archer Daniels Midland by 83.4% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $828,000 after buying an additional 7,130 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Archer Daniels Midland by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 256,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,537,000 after acquiring an additional 5,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Archer Daniels Midland by 38.9% in the second quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 2,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer Daniels Midland Stock Performance

Archer Daniels Midland stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $69.52. 3,062,561 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,023,435. Archer Daniels Midland has a fifty-two week low of $40.98 and a fifty-two week high of $70.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 11.20 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $33.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.00.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $18.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.03 billion. Archer Daniels Midland had a net margin of 1.34% and a return on equity of 7.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Archer Daniels Midland has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.600-4.250 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Archer Daniels Midland will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer Daniels Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Archer Daniels Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Archer Daniels Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 91.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised Archer Daniels Midland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Archer Daniels Midland in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Archer Daniels Midland from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $57.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Archer Daniels Midland from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Archer Daniels Midland presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

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.