Short Interest in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Rises By 9.7%

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the target of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,360,000 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the January 15th total of 1,240,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 534,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Ingredion Price Performance

NYSE:INGR opened at $126.70 on Tuesday. Ingredion has a one year low of $109.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $135.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

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. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Ingredion’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on INGR. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 653.3% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.