Short Interest in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Declines By 39.7%

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

Insider Activity at Andersons

In other news, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total transaction of $113,692.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,367,455.73. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning grew its position in Andersons by 6.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 11.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Bank KS grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 250.0% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, James Investment Research Inc. grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 7.7% during the third quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 9,478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANDE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Andersons in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Andersons Price Performance

Shares of Andersons stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.46. 28,810 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 249,233. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Andersons has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $61.46.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 1.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Andersons will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. 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.