Versor Investments LP Invests $489,000 in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 9,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $489,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Andersons by 20.5% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 132,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,275,000 after purchasing an additional 22,579 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Andersons in the third quarter worth $1,320,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its holdings in Andersons by 149.9% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 153,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,114,000 after purchasing an additional 92,110 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Andersons by 16.9% in the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 115,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,602,000 after purchasing an additional 16,692 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in Andersons in the third quarter valued at $2,344,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Andersons

In related news, VP Brian K. Walz sold 8,975 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.74, for a total transaction of $634,891.50. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,913 shares in the company, valued at $842,725.62. The trade was a 42.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 sale, the director owned 78,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,332,310.84. This represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 95,565 shares of company stock worth $7,191,438 over the last ninety days. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Andersons Stock Performance

ANDE stock opened at $72.23 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 0.69. The Andersons, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.84 and a 1 year high of $82.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.68.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ANDE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Andersons from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Benchmark raised their target price on Andersons from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.50.

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.