Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $72.18 and last traded at $71.3160, with a volume of 131422 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.33.

Andersons Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.56 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.48. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 0.87%.The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Andersons’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Anne G. Rex sold 2,624 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.16, for a total value of $170,979.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 23,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,552,697.64. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.30, for a total transaction of $175,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 23,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,647,902.30. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 29,299 shares of company stock valued at $2,051,771 over the last ninety days. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,469,000. Ophir Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Andersons during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,746,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Andersons by 354.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 731,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,868,000 after acquiring an additional 570,245 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 637,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,875,000 after purchasing an additional 287,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 162.8% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 438,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,445,000 after purchasing an additional 271,451 shares in the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.