Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $13.06 Million Stake in The Andersons, Inc. $ANDE

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 13.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 181,963 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,881 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.53% of Andersons worth $13,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ANDE. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Andersons by 4,393.3% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 14,648 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 14,322 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Andersons by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Andersons during the 1st quarter valued at about $242,000. Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in Andersons by 204.7% during the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 13,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $940,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH bought a new position in Andersons during the 1st quarter valued at about $339,000. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ANDE. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Andersons from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Andersons to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on Andersons in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Texas Capital upgraded Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Andersons presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.00.

Andersons Stock Performance

Shares of Andersons stock opened at $77.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.07. The Andersons, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.84 and a fifty-two week high of $82.11. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 0.65.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.71 billion. Andersons had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 1.17%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.12 EPS.

Andersons Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Andersons’s payout ratio is presently 21.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Patrick E. Bowe sold 19,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.31, for a total value of $1,495,721.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 94,875 shares in the company, valued at $7,429,661.25. This trade represents a 16.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold a total of 36,466 shares of company stock worth $2,895,769 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Andersons Company 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.