Andersons’ (ANDE) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens restated their overweight rating on shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $60.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Andersons Stock Performance

ANDE stock opened at $40.09 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.86. Andersons has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $61.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.37. Andersons had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 8.21%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Andersons will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This is a boost from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Andersons

In other news, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total transaction of $113,692.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,367,455.73. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Andersons

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Andersons by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 336,714 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,701,000 after acquiring an additional 5,983 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Andersons by 11.5% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Andersons in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Andersons by 8.7% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 456,624 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,649,000 after purchasing an additional 36,594 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Andersons during the 2nd quarter valued at $476,000. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

About Andersons

The Andersons, Inc operates in trade, renewables, and nutrient and industrial sectors in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Switzerland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Trade, Renewables, and Nutrient & Industrial. The company’s Trade segment operates grain elevators; stores commodities; and provides grain marketing, risk management, and origination services, as well as sells commodities, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, ethanol, and corn oil.