Stephens Lowers Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Price Target to $150.00

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Stephens from $155.00 to $150.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Stephens’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.79% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.33.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.8 %

Ingredion stock opened at $127.34 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.03. Ingredion has a 12 month low of $107.77 and a 12 month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Ingredion by 431.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in Ingredion by 82.6% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

About Ingredion

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.