Ballentine Partners LLC Takes $206,000 Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth $58,642,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 55,219.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 174,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,240,000 after purchasing an additional 174,495 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,094,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 55.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 321,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,902,000 after buying an additional 115,147 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Ingredion by 75.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,109,000 after buying an additional 83,708 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. This trade represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868 in the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens upgraded Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.17.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $135.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $140.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.06. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $107.37 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

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.