The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Short Interest Update

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 683,800 shares, a decline of 12.2% from the March 15th total of 778,700 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 178,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ANDE shares. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Andersons in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $62.50.

Insider Transactions at Andersons

In related news, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 1,338 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total value of $73,750.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 89,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,923,042.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 1,338 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total value of $73,750.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 89,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,923,042.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 34,597 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.46, for a total transaction of $1,918,749.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,631,741.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,858 shares of company stock worth $2,153,845 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 65.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Andersons in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Andersons by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 349,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,091,000 after acquiring an additional 36,146 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Andersons in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Andersons by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Stock Performance

ANDE stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $57.38. 153,848 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 184,187. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.72. Andersons has a 52 week low of $35.69 and a 52 week high of $58.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52 and a beta of 0.68.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.26 billion. Andersons had a net margin of 0.69% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Andersons will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Andersons’s payout ratio is currently 25.85%.

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.