Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 518,400 shares, a decline of 7.2% from the November 15th total of 558,900 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 416,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total transaction of $49,558.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,198 shares of company stock valued at $9,702,461 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 298.7% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 594 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 206,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,720,000 after buying an additional 12,918 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 57.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth approximately $245,000. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth $459,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR traded down $1.33 during trading on Monday, reaching $142.98. The stock had a trading volume of 359,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,034. Ingredion has a fifty-two week low of $105.78 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $141.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.62. The stock has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on INGR shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.17.

About Ingredion

Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions derived from wet milling and processing corn, and other starch-based materials to a range of industries in North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.