The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,060,000 shares, a growth of 10.6% from the November 30th total of 958,400 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 269,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Andersons

In other Andersons news, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction on 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Andersons

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 1.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 336,714 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,701,000 after acquiring an additional 5,983 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the second quarter valued at approximately $634,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Andersons by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Andersons by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 456,624 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $22,649,000 after purchasing an additional 36,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ANDE. Stephens upgraded Andersons to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Andersons from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Andersons Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ANDE traded up $0.72 on Tuesday, hitting $40.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 204,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 199,632. 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 one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $61.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.57.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Andersons had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 8.21%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Andersons will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This is a boost from Andersons's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Andersons's payout ratio 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.