Andersons’ (ANDE) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens reissued their overweight rating on shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $55.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com raised Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Andersons Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $45.53 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Andersons has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The company has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 0.58.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.34. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 1.01%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. Research analysts predict that Andersons will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.49%.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In related news, VP Weston Heide sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $38,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 16,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $772,992. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total value of $113,692.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,367,455.73. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Andersons by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Andersons by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,112,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. James Investment Research Inc. increased its stake in Andersons by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 9,478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its stake in Andersons by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 13,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 3,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Andersons by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 488,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,494,000 after purchasing an additional 31,881 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Andersons

The Andersons, Inc operates in trade, renewables, and nutrient and industrial sectors in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Switzerland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Trade, Renewables, and Nutrient & Industrial. The company’s Trade segment operates grain elevators; stores commodities; and provides grain marketing, risk management, and origination services, as well as sells commodities, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, ethanol, and corn oil.