Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on INGR. UBS Group increased 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. Barclays lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Oppenheimer boosted 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 upgraded shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. This represents a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Ingredion by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,862,000 after purchasing an additional 19,560 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 92.4% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,332,000 after buying an additional 846,967 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,516,000 after acquiring an additional 19,064 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 1.5% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE INGR opened at $134.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.75. 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 has a 52-week low of $107.20 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.95.

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, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ingredion will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.