Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Acquires 110 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,819 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $388,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 195.2% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after acquiring an additional 19,560 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after acquiring an additional 83,708 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,683,000 after acquiring an additional 10,812 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,539,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,529,000 after acquiring an additional 36,421 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $136.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $140.16 and a 200-day moving average of $135.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.75. 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 Incorporated has a 12 month low of $107.40 and a 12 month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. This represents a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,692 shares of company stock worth $9,634,868 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.