The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE Shares Acquired by Weiss Asset Management LP

Weiss Asset Management LP raised its stake in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 70.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 34,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,351 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP’s holdings in Andersons were worth $2,492,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Entropy Technologies LP grew its position in Andersons by 113.5% during the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 10,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 5,568 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in Andersons during the 1st quarter worth approximately $257,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Andersons by 71.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 70,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,039,000 after acquiring an additional 29,355 shares during the period. Group One Trading LLC increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 230.0% in the 1st quarter. Group One Trading LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming grew its position in Andersons by 280.8% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 3,712 shares during the period. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In other news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 19,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.31, for a total transaction of $1,495,721.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 94,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,429,661.25. This represents a 16.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,466 shares of company stock worth $2,895,769. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANDE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Texas Capital raised shares of Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Andersons to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.00.

Andersons Price Performance

ANDE stock opened at $77.71 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.84 and a 52-week high of $82.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.18.

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

Andersons Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Andersons’s payout ratio is 21.28%.

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.