Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) VP Sells $634,891.50 in Stock

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) VP Brian Walz sold 8,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.74, for a total value of $634,891.50. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,725.62. The trade was a 42.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Andersons Price Performance

ANDE traded down $0.42 on Monday, reaching $70.32. The company had a trading volume of 139,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 304,538. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.03 and a 52-week high of $71.54. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 1.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.47.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.48. Andersons had a net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. 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 company earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ANDE. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optimize Financial Inc raised its position in Andersons by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 14,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Andersons by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Andersons by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Andersons by 3.9% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Andersons by 1.7% during the third quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $917,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.