Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

Several research firms have weighed in on INGR. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens raised Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped 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.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $138.19 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.74. 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 has a 12 month low of $106.03 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $142.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.48.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ingredion will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total value of $49,558.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,159 shares in the company, valued at $6,967,399.22. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,454,105.94. The trade was a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,198 shares of company stock worth $9,702,461 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ingredion in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.