KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Makes New $689,000 Investment in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 17,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $689,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Andersons by 23.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 652,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,720,000 after acquiring an additional 124,468 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Andersons by 221.3% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 135,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 93,453 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Andersons by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,166,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,278,000 after purchasing an additional 84,133 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of Andersons during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,744,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Andersons during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,798,000. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ANDE. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Andersons in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com cut Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

Insider Transactions at Andersons

In related news, VP Weston Heide sold 800 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $38,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 16,104 shares in the company, valued at $772,992. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ ANDE opened at $43.37 on Wednesday. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.48.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 1.01%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.49%.

About Andersons

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.