Short Interest in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Decreases By 24.6%

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 706,748 shares, a decrease of 24.6% from the March 31st total of 936,885 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 275,176 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Andersons Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:ANDE traded up $0.58 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $79.12. 293,487 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 318,466. The company’s 50 day moving average is $70.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.01. Andersons has a twelve month low of $31.03 and a twelve month high of $79.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.26 and a beta of 0.68.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.48. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 0.87%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.06, for a total value of $70,254.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 113,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,896,888.50. This represents a 0.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 2,624 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 23,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,552,697.64. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 60,199 shares of company stock valued at $4,379,923. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Andersons by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Andersons in the 1st quarter valued at $242,000. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Andersons by 204.7% in the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 13,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $940,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH acquired a new position in shares of Andersons in the 1st quarter valued at $339,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Andersons by 256.2% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 40,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,099 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANDE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.33.

About Andersons

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.