Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $74.10 and last traded at $73.80, with a volume of 97967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ANDE. Wall Street Zen lowered Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.33.

Andersons Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.69. The stock has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48 and a beta of 0.68.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 0.87%.The business’s revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is 28.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Andersons news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.41, for a total value of $1,056,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 159,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,256,798.75. This represents a 8.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 2,624 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.16, for a total value of $170,979.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 23,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,552,697.64. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 29,299 shares of company stock worth $2,051,771 in the last 90 days. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Andersons during the fourth quarter worth about $53,469,000. Ophir Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at $38,746,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 354.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 731,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,868,000 after buying an additional 570,245 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Andersons by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 637,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,875,000 after purchasing an additional 287,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Andersons by 162.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 438,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,445,000 after acquiring an additional 271,451 shares in the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.