Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Upgraded by Benchmark to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Benchmark upgraded shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ANDE. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $50.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Andersons presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $62.50.

Andersons Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of ANDE stock opened at $66.86 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Andersons has a fifty-two week low of $31.03 and a fifty-two week high of $67.46.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its 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. Andersons had a return on equity of 5.83% and a net margin of 0.63%.The business had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Andersons will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Anne G. Rex sold 3,000 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.36, for a total transaction of $154,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 23,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,476.64. The trade was a 11.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 12,500 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.77, for a total transaction of $647,125.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,731,240.57. The trade was a 27.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,076,205. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Andersons in the third quarter valued at $1,320,000. Walnut Level Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,989,000. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Andersons by 43.5% in the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 98,442 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,618,000 after acquiring an additional 29,858 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,331,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Andersons during the third quarter valued at about $2,344,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

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.