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

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $95.00.

Several brokerages recently commented on ANDE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $110.00 price target on shares of Andersons in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered Andersons from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Texas Capital upgraded Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th.

Andersons Stock Performance

Shares of Andersons stock opened at $69.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.63. Andersons has a 52 week low of $37.69 and a 52 week high of $82.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $70.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.59.

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

Andersons Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.44%.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In related news, Director Patrick Bowe sold 3,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.53, for a total value of $284,593.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 74,875 shares in the company, valued at $6,029,683.75. This represents a 4.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Andersons during the second quarter worth about $427,688,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,273,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Andersons by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 72,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 18,828 shares during the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Andersons during the 1st quarter worth approximately $12,228,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,790,000. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.