The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its holdings in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,050,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 29,044 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Andersons worth $215,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 3.9% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 7.3% in the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 7,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 3.3% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Andersons Stock Up 0.9%

Andersons stock opened at $71.45 on Friday. The Andersons, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.84 and a 1-year high of $82.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.81.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.42. Andersons had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 1.17%.The company had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. Andersons’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Andersons news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.30, for a total transaction of $175,750.00. Following the sale, the director owned 23,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,647,902.30. This trade represents a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 16,466 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $1,329,794.16. Following the sale, the director owned 78,409 shares in the company, valued at $6,332,310.84. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 95,765 shares of company stock valued at $7,205,438. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANDE has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.50.

Andersons Company Profile

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.