Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Director Sells $275,000.00 in Stock

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Director John Stout, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,426,755. This represents a 16.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Andersons Price Performance

NASDAQ ANDE traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.13. 179,935 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 338,689. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81 and a beta of 0.79. The Andersons, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.03 and a 12-month high of $56.47. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Andersons Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ANDE. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.33.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANDE. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Andersons during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Andersons by 33,600.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Andersons by 227.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new position in shares of Andersons during the second quarter worth about $114,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Andersons by 57.1% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.