Brokerages Set The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Target Price at $85.00

Shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $85.00.

Several equities analysts have commented on ANDE shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on Andersons in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Andersons to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Texas Capital raised Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Andersons

In related news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 16,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $1,329,794.16. Following the sale, the director owned 78,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,332,310.84. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 36,466 shares of company stock worth $2,895,769 in the last 90 days. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Andersons

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ANDE. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Andersons in the second quarter worth $260,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Andersons by 51.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,668 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in shares of Andersons during the 1st quarter worth $585,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 56.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 96,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,920,000 after purchasing an additional 34,619 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ ANDE opened at $77.71 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.07. Andersons has a one year low of $31.84 and a one year high of $82.11.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.42. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio 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.