The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $95.00.

A number of equities analysts have commented on ANDE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Andersons in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Texas Capital upgraded shares of Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Andersons

In related news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,534 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.53, for a total value of $284,593.02. Following the sale, the director directly owned 74,875 shares in the company, valued at $6,029,683.75. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Andersons

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANDE. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,727 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Andersons by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $834,000 after buying an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in Andersons during the second quarter worth about $257,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Andersons during the second quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Andersons in the second quarter valued at about $1,036,000. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Andersons Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $64.10 on Wednesday. Andersons has a 12-month low of $37.69 and a 12-month high of $82.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 0.66.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.67. Andersons had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 1.62%.The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.44%.

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.