Franklin Resources Inc. Has $1.85 Million Stock Holdings in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 37,797 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 14,960 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Andersons were worth $1,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Andersons by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,737,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,390,000 after acquiring an additional 303,711 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Andersons by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 933,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,325,000 after purchasing an additional 134,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Andersons by 23.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 652,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,720,000 after buying an additional 124,468 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Andersons during the 3rd quarter worth $2,798,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Andersons in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,311,000. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Joseph E. Mcneely sold 2,382 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.73, for a total value of $113,692.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,367,455.73. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Andersons from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stephens raised Andersons to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd.

Andersons Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of ANDE opened at $40.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.96 and a 200-day moving average of $48.24. The Andersons, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $61.46.

Andersons (NASDAQ:ANDE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.37. Andersons had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 1.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Andersons, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Andersons Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is an increase from Andersons’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Andersons’s payout ratio is currently 22.29%.

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.