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

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,900 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ANDE. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in Andersons in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at about $110,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in Andersons in the 3rd quarter valued at about $107,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Andersons in the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Andersons by 491.8% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,409 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 4,495 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.06% of the company's stock.

Andersons Stock Up 0.5 %

ANDE stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.91. 152,469 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 185,139. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $55.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36 and a beta of 0.68. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.69 and a 52-week high of $61.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Andersons, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ANDE. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Andersons in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Andersons from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Andersons currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,387 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $203,253.87. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,110,391.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,387 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $203,253.87. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,110,391.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Patrick E. Bowe sold 2,623 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total value of $144,842.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,005,858.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,245 shares of company stock valued at $2,534,099. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Andersons Company Profile

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.