Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $56.47 and last traded at $56.35, with a volume of 923004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANDE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.33.

Andersons Trading Up 4.4%

The stock has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $48.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.72.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.38. Andersons had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 5.83%. The company had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. Andersons’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. This is a positive change from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Andersons’s payout ratio is currently 36.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.77, for a total transaction of $647,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 33,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,731,240.57. The trade was a 27.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.36, for a total transaction of $154,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 23,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,476.64. The trade was a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Andersons

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Andersons by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,113,185 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $176,579,000 after acquiring an additional 115,948 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Andersons by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 800,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,353,000 after purchasing an additional 48,596 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Andersons by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 615,797 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,436,000 after purchasing an additional 68,498 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 1st quarter worth $5,439,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Andersons by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 101,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,375,000 after buying an additional 21,879 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 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.