Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 270.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 65,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,539 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Andersons were worth $3,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ANDE. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Andersons by 162.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 438,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,445,000 after buying an additional 271,451 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Andersons in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,201,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in Andersons by 262.8% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 273,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,047,000 after purchasing an additional 198,029 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in Andersons by 105.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 277,257 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,038,000 after purchasing an additional 142,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Andersons by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 357,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,019,000 after purchasing an additional 113,013 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ANDE. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Andersons Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of Andersons stock opened at $74.24 on Thursday. The Andersons, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.84 and a 1 year high of $82.11. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $72.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.79.

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. The business had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.71 billion. Andersons had a net margin of 1.17% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John T. Stout, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.30, for a total value of $175,750.00. Following the sale, the director owned 23,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,647,902.30. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 16,466 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total transaction of $1,329,794.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 78,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,332,310.84. The trade was a 17.36% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 83,966 shares of company stock worth $6,385,567. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

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.