Andersons’ (ANDE) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reissued their overweight rating on shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $60.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Andersons Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $40.10 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.93. The company has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 0.57. Andersons has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 1.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Andersons will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.195 per share. This is a positive change from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Andersons’s payout ratio is presently 22.29%.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In other news, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total value of $113,692.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,367,455.73. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 8.8% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,737,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,390,000 after acquiring an additional 303,711 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 933,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,325,000 after purchasing an additional 134,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Andersons by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 652,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,720,000 after purchasing an additional 124,468 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Andersons during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,798,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,311,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

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.