The Andersons, Inc. (ANDE): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) shareholders have witnessed an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.

In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we hone in on the elite of this club, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls most of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by monitoring their top stock picks, we have identified a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are plenty of reasons for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the latest action surrounding The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE).

How are hedge funds trading The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 38% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management had the largest position in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE), worth close to $16.6 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On AQR Capital Management’s heels is SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, which held a $4.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) headfirst. SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, assembled the biggest position in The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE). SAC Capital Advisors had 4.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also made a $1.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE). These stocks are Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (NYSE:CQB), Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW), Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY), Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP), and Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO). This group of stocks belong to the farm products industry and their market caps are similar to ANDE’s market cap.