Magnetar Financial LLC Sells 3,118 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Magnetar Financial LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 28.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,779 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,118 shares during the quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 44.4% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 95,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,915,000 after acquiring an additional 29,260 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 30.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 148,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,084,000 after purchasing an additional 35,074 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,332,000 after purchasing an additional 846,967 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth approximately $528,000. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Ingredion by 11.0% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 6,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR opened at $135.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day moving average of $129.53 and a 200 day moving average of $120.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.52. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $89.54 and a fifty-two week high of $137.21.

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

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid 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 is Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 32.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total value of $134,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,070.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total transaction of $134,020.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,070.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction, 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 have sold a total of 26,045 shares of company stock worth $3,482,491 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a 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 research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.33.

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.