Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Andersons in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Andersons Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of ANDE stock opened at $40.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 0.58. Andersons has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $61.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.79 and a 200-day moving average of $46.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Andersons will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This is a positive change from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.29%.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In other Andersons 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 49,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,367,455.73. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 23.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 124,468 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,744,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Andersons in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,798,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Andersons by 86.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,110,000 after acquiring an additional 46,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Andersons by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 353,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,315,000 after acquiring an additional 44,022 shares during the period. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.