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

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 764,300 shares, a growth of 19.5% from the December 31st total of 639,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 309,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Andersons in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Insider Transactions at Andersons

In related news, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total value of $113,692.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,367,455.73. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ANDE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 23.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 652,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,720,000 after buying an additional 124,468 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in Andersons in the fourth quarter worth $2,744,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Andersons in the third quarter worth $2,798,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Andersons by 86.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,110,000 after purchasing an additional 46,903 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of Andersons during the second quarter valued at $2,311,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of ANDE stock traded down $0.87 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $39.88. 9,334 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 244,813. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.58. Andersons has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $61.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.41 and a 200 day moving average of $46.99.

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

Andersons Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.195 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.29%.

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.