Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Short Interest Update

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,000,000 shares, an increase of 92.9% from the November 30th total of 518,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 447,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,967,399.22. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total value of $721,027.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,454,105.94. The trade was a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,198 shares of company stock worth $9,702,461. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Ingredion by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 0.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.3% during the third quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.4% during the second quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 25,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,967,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delphi Management Inc. MA lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% in the second quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 15,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,793,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on INGR. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer increased 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 lifted their price objective on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.17.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE INGR traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $138.57. The stock had a trading volume of 245,661 shares, compared to its average volume of 398,953. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $142.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.19. The company has a market capitalization of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion has a 1-year low of $106.03 and a 1-year high of $155.44. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Ingredion’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ingredion will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

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.