Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 17,882 Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 17,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,051,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 230.9% in the first quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after buying an additional 9,577 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 154.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 77,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,101,000 after purchasing an additional 47,225 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Ingredion by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,305,000 after buying an additional 21,619 shares during the period. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,154,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,812,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised shares of Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $149,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,906 shares in the company, valued at $1,988,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,046,374.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,045 shares of company stock valued at $3,482,491. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE INGR opened at $135.04 on Tuesday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $89.54 and a 52 week high of $137.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.34. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.06%.

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.