The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 4,393.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,648 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 14,322 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Andersons were worth $1,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANDE. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Andersons by 23.4% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after buying an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Andersons during the 1st quarter worth $242,000. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in shares of Andersons by 204.7% in the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 13,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $940,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH acquired a new position in shares of Andersons in the 1st quarter worth $339,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Andersons by 256.2% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 40,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ANDE opened at $77.71 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $72.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The Andersons, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.84 and a 12-month high of $82.11. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. Andersons’s payout ratio is presently 21.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ANDE shares. Texas Capital raised Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Andersons in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Andersons to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

Insider Transactions at Andersons

In related news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 16,466 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $1,329,794.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 78,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,332,310.84. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,466 shares of company stock valued at $2,895,769. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Andersons 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.