Summit Global Investments Takes Position in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 19,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,302,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Optimize Financial Inc grew its position in Andersons by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 14,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Andersons by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Andersons by 95.2% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Andersons during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Andersons by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,281,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 directly owned 74,875 shares in the company, valued at $6,029,683.75. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANDE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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 note on Monday, June 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $110.00 target price on Andersons in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Andersons Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $65.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $71.23 and its 200-day moving average is $70.35. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.69 and a 52-week high of $82.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.51.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.67. Andersons had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 1.62%.The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. The firm’s 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 given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. Andersons’s payout ratio is currently 15.44%.

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.