The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $85.00.

ANDE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Andersons to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings raised Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Monday, June 15th.

Andersons Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $70.86 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Andersons has a 12-month low of $31.84 and a 12-month high of $82.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $72.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 0.64.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.42. Andersons had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 1.17%.The firm had revenue of $2.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 19,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.31, for a total transaction of $1,495,721.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 94,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,429,661.25. This represents a 16.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 66,466 shares of company stock worth $5,153,667 over the last three months. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Andersons

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANDE. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Andersons by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $257,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,036,000. 87.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Andersons Company Profile

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.