Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $71.54 and last traded at $69.94, with a volume of 402382 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on ANDE. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.33.

Andersons Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Andersons Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Andersons

In other news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.41, for a total value of $1,056,150.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 159,875 shares in the company, valued at $11,256,798.75. This trade represents a 8.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 2,624 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 23,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,552,697.64. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 26,799 shares of company stock valued at $1,876,021 over the last ninety days. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Andersons

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,727 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 799,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,400,000 after purchasing an additional 4,495 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in Andersons by 7.7% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 8,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Andersons by 552.8% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 39,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,456,000 after purchasing an additional 33,552 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Andersons Company Profile

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.