Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Shares Acquired by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 75.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 194,295 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.30% of Ingredion worth $26,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the second quarter worth $36,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ingredion in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

NYSE INGR opened at $138.78 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $106.03 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on INGR shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens raised Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer increased 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 raised 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 approximately $4,454,105.94. This represents a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,198 shares of company stock valued at $9,702,461. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.