Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 4,135 Shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 2.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 160,077 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,135 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Andersons were worth $6,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ANDE. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Andersons by 426.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Andersons by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Andersons during the 4th quarter valued at about $189,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Andersons during the 4th quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Andersons in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. Institutional investors own 87.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANDE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Andersons in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Lake Street Capital cut their target price on shares of Andersons from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Andersons from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th.

Andersons Trading Down 1.6%

NASDAQ ANDE opened at $37.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.38. The Andersons, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.03 and a 12 month high of $55.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.75.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.20. Andersons had a net margin of 0.97% and a return on equity of 7.35%. The company had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Andersons, Inc. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Andersons Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.195 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Andersons’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.61%.

Andersons Company Profile

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.