Renaissance Technologies LLC Trims Holdings in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 125,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,100 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.37% of Andersons worth $9,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Optimize Financial Inc lifted its stake in Andersons by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 14,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew 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 buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Andersons by 95.2% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Andersons by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,281,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Texas Capital raised Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Andersons to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of Andersons in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,534 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.53, for a total transaction of $284,593.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 74,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,029,683.75. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Stock Performance

Shares of Andersons stock opened at $70.78 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.37. The Andersons, Inc. has a one year low of $31.84 and a one year high of $82.11. The company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Andersons Announces Dividend

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