The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $85.00.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ANDE. Texas Capital upgraded shares of Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Andersons to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In other Andersons news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 19,100 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.31, for a total value 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 $7,429,661.25. This trade represents a 16.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,466 shares of company stock valued at $5,153,667. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Andersons

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 149.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 153,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,114,000 after buying an additional 92,110 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 115,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,602,000 after buying an additional 16,692 shares in the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in shares of Andersons in the 4th quarter worth $5,273,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Andersons in the 3rd quarter worth $1,426,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 165,999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,826,000 after buying an additional 33,873 shares in the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Andersons Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ANDE opened at $71.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.33. Andersons has a 52-week low of $31.84 and a 52-week high of $82.11.

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

Andersons Announces Dividend

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

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.