Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.33.

Andersons Stock Down 0.9%

ANDE stock opened at $70.12 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $63.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 0.74. Andersons has a fifty-two week low of $31.03 and a fifty-two week high of $71.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.48. Andersons had a net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Andersons will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Andersons

In related news, VP Brian K. Walz sold 8,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.74, for a total value of $634,891.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,725.62. The trade was a 42.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 2,624 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.16, for a total transaction of $170,979.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 23,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,552,697.64. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 11,799 shares of company stock worth $819,871 over the last quarter. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANDE. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Andersons in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Optima Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Andersons in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Andersons during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 95.2% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 33,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the period. 87.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.