BMO Capital Markets Increases Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Price Target to $75.00

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) had its price target hoisted by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective points to a potential upside of 14.24% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on ANDE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.33.

Andersons Price Performance

ANDE opened at $65.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.43. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45 and a beta of 0.77. Andersons has a 1 year low of $31.03 and a 1 year high of $70.06.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.48. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 0.87%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Andersons will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Andersons news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $275,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,426,755. This trade represents a 16.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Andersons

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Andersons by 20.5% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 132,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,275,000 after buying an additional 22,579 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Andersons in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,320,000. Walnut Level Capital LLC bought a new stake in Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,989,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Andersons in the 2nd quarter worth $1,331,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Andersons by 165.7% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,236 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 8,879 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Andersons

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.