Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $51.58 and last traded at $51.7410, with a volume of 34188 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $50.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANDE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Andersons from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.33.

Andersons Trading Up 0.5%

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54 and a beta of 0.76.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.38. Andersons had a return on equity of 5.28% and a net margin of 0.70%.The business had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.195 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in shares of Andersons by 262.8% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 273,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,047,000 after buying an additional 198,029 shares in the last quarter. Walnut Level Capital LLC acquired a new position in Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,989,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,722,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,287,000 after acquiring an additional 176,972 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Andersons during the 1st quarter worth $5,439,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Andersons by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,113,185 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $176,579,000 after purchasing an additional 115,948 shares during the period. 87.06% of the stock is 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.