Short Interest in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Decreases By 12.1%

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 949,700 shares, a decline of 12.1% from the August 15th total of 1,080,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 385,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR traded up $1.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $135.68. 269,913 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 378,158. The stock has a market cap of $8.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion has a 1 year low of $89.54 and a 1 year high of $137.21. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ingredion will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a boost from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of Ingredion 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,046,374.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $149,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,988,250. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $3,024,857.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,046,374.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,045 shares of company stock worth $3,482,491 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Loews Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Loews Corp now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,706,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Ingredion by 230.9% during the first quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 9,577 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Ingredion by 154.0% in 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 last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 23.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,305,000 after buying an additional 21,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 1st quarter worth $1,154,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on INGR. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised shares of Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.33.

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.