Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,633 shares of the company’s stock after selling 750 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 195.2% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Ingredion by 0.8% during 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 period. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 2,629.3% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 3,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 3,681 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after buying an additional 83,708 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 321,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,902,000 after buying an additional 115,147 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR opened at $135.45 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $140.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.73. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $107.20 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The firm has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

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. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays increased their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens upgraded shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.17.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $861,120.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.