Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, Zacks reports. Andersons had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 5.83%.

Andersons Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ ANDE traded down $2.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $67.01. The stock had a trading volume of 355,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 284,916. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $58.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.77. Andersons has a 52 week low of $31.03 and a 52 week high of $70.06. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.31 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.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Andersons’s payout ratio is presently 37.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANDE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Benchmark upgraded Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Andersons presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.50.

Insider Activity

In other Andersons news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $275,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,941 shares in the company, valued at $1,426,755. This trade represents a 16.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Andersons

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Andersons by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,727 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 4.7% in 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. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in Andersons in the second quarter worth $257,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Andersons during the second quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Andersons during the second quarter worth $1,036,000. 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.