Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

INGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target 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.

Ingredion Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of INGR opened at $134.37 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.95. Ingredion has a twelve month low of $107.20 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its 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. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total value 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. This represents a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,692 shares of company stock worth $9,634,868 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of INGR. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Ingredion by 143.1% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 13,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 7,969 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $314,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,642,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Ingredion by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 16,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,303 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.