Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $62.95 and last traded at $62.86, with a volume of 40465 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $61.99.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ANDE. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.33.

Andersons Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.50 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.40.

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

Andersons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This is an increase from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Andersons’s payout ratio is currently 37.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 12,500 shares of Andersons 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 transaction, the director owned 33,441 shares in the company, valued at $1,731,240.57. This trade represents a 27.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.36, for a total value of $154,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 23,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,476.64. This trade represents a 11.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,500 shares of company stock worth $1,076,205. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 11.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,722,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,287,000 after buying an additional 176,972 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Andersons by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 799,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,400,000 after buying an additional 4,495 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 1.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 509,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,296,000 after purchasing an additional 9,245 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Andersons by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 506,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,153,000 after purchasing an additional 10,698 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Andersons by 162.8% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 438,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,445,000 after buying an additional 271,451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

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.