The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) Short Interest Down 12.0% in January

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 672,700 shares, a decline of 12.0% from the January 15th total of 764,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 320,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Andersons Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ ANDE traded down $1.64 on Thursday, reaching $46.17. The company had a trading volume of 523,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,599. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 0.58. Andersons has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.95. 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 (NASDAQ:ANDE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.71% and a net margin of 1.01%. Analysts forecast that Andersons will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Andersons's payout ratio is 23.49%.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In other Andersons news, VP Weston Heide sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $38,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 16,104 shares in the company, valued at $772,992. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total transaction of $113,692.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,601 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,367,455.73. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Andersons

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in Andersons by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,337,344 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $67,054,000 after acquiring an additional 28,773 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Andersons by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,166,781 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $47,278,000 after acquiring an additional 84,133 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Andersons by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 785,139 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $39,374,000 after acquiring an additional 14,634 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Andersons by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 751,624 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,456,000 after acquiring an additional 99,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Andersons by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 615,897 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,956,000 after acquiring an additional 61,250 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ANDE. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Andersons from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

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.