SG Americas Securities LLC Trims Stock Holdings in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 53.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 21,147 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Andersons worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ANDE. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Andersons by 11.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,722,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,287,000 after buying an additional 176,972 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Andersons by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 799,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,400,000 after acquiring an additional 4,495 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Andersons by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 495,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $18,211,000 after purchasing an additional 18,585 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Andersons by 262.8% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 273,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,047,000 after purchasing an additional 198,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walnut Level Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Andersons during the second quarter worth about $6,989,000. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on ANDE shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Andersons from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Anne G. Rex sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.36, for a total value of $154,080.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 23,549 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,476.64. This trade represents a 11.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 12,500 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.77, for a total value of $647,125.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,441 shares in the company, valued at $1,731,240.57. The trade was a 27.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,076,205. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Andersons Stock Up 3.2%

NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $61.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.16 and a 200-day moving average of $45.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80 and a beta of 0.78. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.03 and a 52 week high of $62.07.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 5.83% and a net margin of 0.63%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. This is a positive change from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.38%.

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.