StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE)

Stock analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE – Get Rating) in a research note issued on Thursday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Separately, Stephens increased their target price on shares of Andersons from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Andersons has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.33.

Andersons Trading Down 3.9 %

NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $38.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.04 and a beta of 0.75. Andersons has a 52 week low of $29.35 and a 52 week high of $59.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.81 and its 200-day moving average is $36.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $4.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Andersons had a net margin of 0.76% and a return on equity of 9.98%. Andersons’s revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Andersons will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Andersons news, VP Brian K. Walz sold 2,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $114,120.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,462 shares in the company, valued at $695,790. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Andersons news, VP Brian K. Walz sold 2,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $114,120.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,462 shares in the company, valued at $695,790. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Michael J. Anderson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.50, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 320,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,627,370. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,201 shares of company stock worth $1,177,298. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Andersons by 762.0% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Andersons in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Andersons by 817.4% in the fourth quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 1,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares during the last quarter. Amundi purchased a new stake in shares of Andersons in the second quarter valued at about $81,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Andersons by 10.0% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.81% of the company’s stock.

About Andersons

(Get Rating)

The Andersons, Inc is an agriculturally rooted diversified company, which engages in railcar leasing and repair, turf products production, and consumer retailing. It operates through the following segments: Trade, Renewables, and Plant Nutrient. The Trade segment includes commodity merchandising and the operation of terminal grain elevator facilities.