Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $62.95 and last traded at $62.86, with a volume of 40465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.99.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ANDE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Andersons has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.33.

Andersons Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.29 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $55.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.79.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.38. Andersons had a return on equity of 5.83% and a net margin of 0.63%.The business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $275,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,426,755. This represents a 16.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.36, for a total value of $154,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 23,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,476.64. This represents a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,076,205. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Andersons by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,727 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,137 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Andersons by 4.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $834,000 after buying an additional 866 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in Andersons by 7.9% during the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 19,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Croban grew its position in Andersons by 1.6% during the second quarter. Croban now owns 25,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $920,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new position in Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth $114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

About Andersons

The Andersons, Inc operates as a diversified agriculture company offering a broad range of products and services to farmers, retailers and industrial customers. Through its Grain Group, the company purchases, stores, merchandises and transports corn, soybeans and other commodities, while its Renewables Group produces ethanol and distillers grains at multiple plants in the U.S. The Rail Group provides locomotive leasing, railcar repair and related maintenance services, and the Horticulture Group supplies turf, specialty and horticultural products to landscaping professionals and consumer lawn and garden retailers.

Founded in 1947 and headquartered in Maumee, Ohio, The Andersons has grown from a regional grain elevator operator into an integrated agribusiness platform.