Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Andersons in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd.

Andersons Stock Performance

NASDAQ ANDE opened at $40.86 on Tuesday. Andersons has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $61.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.09 and a 200-day moving average of $46.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.58. 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 data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Andersons will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is an increase from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Andersons’s payout ratio is currently 22.29%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Andersons

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANDE. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Andersons by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,337,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,054,000 after purchasing an additional 28,773 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Andersons by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,110,000 after buying an additional 46,903 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Andersons by 375.0% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 42,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,117,000 after buying an additional 33,336 shares during the period. Peoples Bank KS increased its stake in shares of Andersons by 250.0% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Andersons by 23.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 652,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,720,000 after acquiring an additional 124,468 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Company Profile

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.