Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Shares in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 15,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Andersons by 111.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 88,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,083,000 after acquiring an additional 46,587 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at $110,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Andersons by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 14,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $845,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in Andersons by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 16,713 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $962,000 after acquiring an additional 4,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Andersons by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,314,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $133,190,000 after acquiring an additional 907,734 shares in the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Andersons news, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 1,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total value of $73,750.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 89,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,923,042.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Andersons news, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,387 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $203,253.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,110,391.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 1,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.12, for a total value of $73,750.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,923,042.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,245 shares of company stock valued at $2,534,099 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Andersons in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Andersons currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.50.

Andersons Price Performance

Andersons stock opened at $56.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.72. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.69 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $55.75 and a 200-day moving average of $53.62.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.48. Andersons had a return on equity of 8.19% and a net margin of 0.69%. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Andersons’s revenue was down 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Andersons, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Andersons’s payout ratio is presently 25.85%.

About Andersons

The Andersons, Inc operates in trade, renewables, and nutrient and industrial sectors in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Switzerland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Trade, Renewables, and Nutrient & Industrial. The company's Trade segment operates grain elevators; stores commodities; and provides grain marketing, risk management, and origination services, as well as sells commodities, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, ethanol, and corn oil.