Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Monday, June 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on Andersons in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Texas Capital upgraded Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Andersons Trading Down 3.8%

ANDE stock opened at $65.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.51. Andersons has a one year low of $37.43 and a one year high of $82.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $71.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.16.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Andersons Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Andersons news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.53, for a total value of $284,593.02. Following the transaction, the director owned 74,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,029,683.75. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $427,688,000. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Andersons during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,469,000. Ophir Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Andersons during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,746,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Andersons by 354.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 731,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,868,000 after acquiring an additional 570,245 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Andersons in the second quarter worth $20,628,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

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.