SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stake in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 564.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 122,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 104,260 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.36% of Andersons worth $6,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Andersons by 5.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,727 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $834,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 2nd quarter worth about $257,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Andersons by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 65,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,398,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Andersons by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,896 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,634,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $71.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.64 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The Andersons, Inc. has a one year low of $31.03 and a one year high of $73.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.98.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.48. Andersons had a net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ANDE. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Andersons presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Andersons news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.30, for a total transaction of $175,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 23,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,647,902.30. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Anne G. Rex sold 2,624 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.16, for a total value of $170,979.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 23,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,552,697.64. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 29,299 shares of company stock worth $2,051,771 over the last three months. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.