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

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 639,700 shares, a decrease of 39.7% from the December 15th total of 1,060,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 293,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Insider Activity

In other Andersons news, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total value of $113,692.86. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,367,455.73. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Andersons

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ANDE. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,337,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,054,000 after purchasing an additional 28,773 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Andersons by 86.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,110,000 after buying an additional 46,903 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Andersons by 375.0% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 42,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after buying an additional 33,336 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $32,720,000 after buying an additional 124,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 785,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,374,000 after buying an additional 14,634 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on ANDE shares. Stephens reiterated 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.

Andersons Stock Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $44.85 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $44.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.81 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Andersons has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $61.46.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 1.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Andersons will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.195 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.