Short Interest in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Grows By 11.8%

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 764,400 shares, an increase of 11.8% from the March 31st total of 683,800 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 177,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael J. Anderson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total value of $177,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 209,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,388,112. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Andersons news, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 1,338 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total value of $73,750.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 89,315 shares in the company, valued at $4,923,042.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Anderson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total value of $177,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 209,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,388,112. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,245 shares of company stock valued at $2,534,099. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Andersons by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,971,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $204,569,000 after buying an additional 47,494 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Andersons by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,818,680 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,189,000 after purchasing an additional 46,203 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,314,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $133,190,000 after purchasing an additional 907,734 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 683,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,354,000 after purchasing an additional 18,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 68.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 412,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,267,000 after purchasing an additional 167,473 shares in the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Andersons in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded 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 MarketBeat, Andersons currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.50.

Andersons Stock Down 4.1 %

ANDE stock opened at $54.94 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $55.86 and its 200-day moving average is $53.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69 and a beta of 0.68. Andersons has a twelve month low of $35.69 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.26 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 8.19% and a net margin of 0.69%. Andersons’s quarterly revenue was down 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Andersons will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.85%.

Andersons Company Profile

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.