Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Andersons from “strong buy” to “buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Buy” with an average price target of $95.
• Andersons reported quarterly EPS of $2.15, exceeding the $1.48 consensus estimate, although revenue of $3.10 billion missed expectations and declined 1.2% year over year.
• The stock opened at $70.97, near its 50-day and 200-day moving averages; institutional investors own 87.06% of shares, while a company director recently sold 3,534 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on ANDE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $110.00 price target on Andersons in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Texas Capital upgraded shares of Andersons to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Andersons from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Andersons Price Performance

Andersons stock opened at $70.97 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $70.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.75. Andersons has a one year low of $37.69 and a one year high of $82.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 0.63.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.67. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 1.62%.The company's revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at Andersons

In related news, Director Patrick Bowe sold 3,534 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.53, for a total transaction of $284,593.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 74,875 shares in the company, valued at $6,029,683.75. This represents a 4.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth $427,688,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in Andersons during the 4th quarter worth about $5,273,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Andersons by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 72,808 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,871,000 after buying an additional 18,828 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,302,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Andersons in the second quarter valued at about $2,790,000. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company's stock.

About Andersons

The Andersons, Inc operates as a diversified agriculture company offering a broad range of products and services to farmers, retailers and industrial customers. Through its Grain Group, the company purchases, stores, merchandises and transports corn, soybeans and other commodities, while its Renewables Group produces ethanol and distillers grains at multiple plants in the U.S. The Rail Group provides locomotive leasing, railcar repair and related maintenance services, and the Horticulture Group supplies turf, specialty and horticultural products to landscaping professionals and consumer lawn and garden retailers.

Founded in 1947 and headquartered in Maumee, Ohio, The Andersons has grown from a regional grain elevator operator into an integrated agribusiness platform.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.