Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.33.

Andersons Price Performance

ANDE stock opened at $70.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Andersons has a 1 year low of $31.03 and a 1 year high of $71.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.92 and a 200 day moving average of $52.30. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26 and a beta of 0.74.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.48. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 0.87%.The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Andersons will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Andersons news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,426,755. The trade was a 16.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 2,624 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.16, for a total value of $170,979.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 23,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,552,697.64. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 7,824 shares of company stock valued at $459,980 in the last quarter. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. Optimize Financial Inc raised its holdings in Andersons by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 14,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Andersons by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Andersons by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in shares of Andersons by 3.9% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Andersons by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $917,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Andersons Company Profile

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.