Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 4,316 Shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 155,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,316 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.46% of Andersons worth $6,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Andersons by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,337,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,054,000 after acquiring an additional 28,773 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Andersons by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 785,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,374,000 after purchasing an additional 14,634 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 124,468 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Andersons by 7.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 488,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,494,000 after purchasing an additional 31,881 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Andersons by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 232,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,364,000 after buying an additional 12,792 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Andersons Stock Up 0.3 %

ANDE opened at $42.78 on Monday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.77. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Andersons Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Andersons’s payout ratio is 23.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Weston Heide sold 800 shares of Andersons stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 16,104 shares in the company, valued at $772,992. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.