Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 608,500 shares, an increase of 17.5% from the May 31st total of 517,800 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 373,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.11, for a total transaction of $282,171.59. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,436,085.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ingredion news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.11, for a total transaction of $282,171.59. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,436,085.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 8,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.74, for a total transaction of $1,033,572.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,833 shares in the company, valued at $5,214,489.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,359 shares of company stock worth $4,515,644. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ingredion by 102.6% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Ingredion by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Ingredion by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Ingredion during the first quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $114.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $116.22 and its 200-day moving average is $113.51. Ingredion has a 52-week low of $89.54 and a 52-week high of $122.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.08. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.45% and a return on equity of 16.56%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ingredion will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 31.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on INGR shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ingredion from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.17.

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.