Compass Financial Management LLC Takes Position in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 23,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,587,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optimize Financial Inc boosted its stake in Andersons by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 14,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Andersons by 95.2% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Amundi raised its position in Andersons by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Andersons during the second quarter worth about $38,000. 87.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Andersons Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of ANDE stock opened at $68.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 0.66. The Andersons, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.69 and a 12-month high of $82.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $70.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.59.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.67. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Andersons had a net margin of 1.62% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Andersons’s payout ratio is presently 15.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Andersons from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Andersons to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Andersons currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 3,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.53, for a total transaction of $284,593.02. Following the sale, the director directly owned 74,875 shares in the company, valued at $6,029,683.75. This represents a 4.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.