Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $155.17.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on INGR shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays lifted their price target 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 raised 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. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total value of $49,558.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,198 shares of company stock valued at $9,702,461 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Ingredion by 1.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,683,000 after buying an additional 10,812 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the third quarter valued at approximately $149,000. Finally, Fulcrum Equity Management lifted its position in Ingredion by 18.2% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 4,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of INGR stock opened at $138.19 on Monday. Ingredion has a 1-year low of $106.03 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $9.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $142.29 and a 200-day moving average of $131.48.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ingredion will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.22%.

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.