NFJ Investment Group LLC Buys Shares of 40,787 The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 40,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,790,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ANDE. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 2,137 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised 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 valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $257,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Andersons during the second quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Andersons during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,036,000. 87.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Andersons news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 74,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,029,683.75. This represents a 4.51% 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. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Stock Down 0.6%

Andersons stock opened at $67.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 0.66. The Andersons, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.69 and a twelve month high of $82.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $70.88 and a 200-day moving average of $70.61.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Andersons had a net margin of 1.62% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Andersons’s payout ratio is 15.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Texas Capital upgraded shares of Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on Andersons in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Andersons from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

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.