Blue Trust Inc. Cuts Stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Blue Trust Inc. reduced its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 36.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 849 shares of the company’s stock after selling 494 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of INGR. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 431.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 82.6% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 65,685 shares of company stock worth $9,414,112. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.20.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $128.07 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $109.51 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $134.19 and a 200 day moving average of $136.38.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Ingredion’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

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.