Optimize Financial Inc Purchases Shares of 14,449 The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

Optimize Financial Inc purchased a new stake in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 14,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $575,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ANDE. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Andersons in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 227.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Andersons in the second quarter valued at $114,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Andersons by 57.1% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Andersons during the 2nd quarter worth about $201,000. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Anne G. Rex sold 3,000 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.36, for a total value of $154,080.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 23,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,476.64. The trade was a 11.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.77, for a total value of $647,125.00. Following the sale, the director owned 33,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,731,240.57. The trade was a 27.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 20,500 shares of company stock worth $1,076,205 in the last quarter. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $50.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Andersons currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.33.

Andersons Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of ANDE stock opened at $65.23 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The Andersons, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.03 and a 1-year high of $65.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48 and a beta of 0.77.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. Andersons had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 5.83%. Andersons’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is 37.38%.

Andersons Company Profile

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.