Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

A number of research firms recently commented on INGR. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Ingredion Price Performance

Ingredion stock opened at $138.57 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $132.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $106.03 and a 12-month high of $155.44.

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 return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ingredion will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. This trade represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total value of $49,558.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,197 shares of company stock valued at $9,702,325. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ingredion by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,332,000 after acquiring an additional 846,967 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 177.8% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 396,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,491,000 after purchasing an additional 253,949 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ingredion by 55,219.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 174,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,240,000 after buying an additional 174,495 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Ingredion by 4.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,685,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,009,000 after purchasing an additional 125,543 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,094,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Company Profile

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.