ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 366,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,160 shares during the quarter. Ingredion comprises approximately 2.1% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.56% of Ingredion worth $50,476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Ingredion by 154.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 41,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,749,000 after purchasing an additional 25,105 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $241,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Ingredion by 9.4% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 15,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,776,000 after buying an additional 1,334 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 191.0% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 13,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth approximately $2,051,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE INGR opened at $135.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.67. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $107.20 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The stock has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.56.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

INGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens upgraded Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two 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.com, Ingredion has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total value of $721,027.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,454,105.94. This represents a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,692 shares of company stock worth $9,634,868 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion 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.