Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 205 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,251 shares of the company’s stock after selling 205 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Ingredion by 195.2% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after purchasing an additional 19,560 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,683,000 after buying an additional 10,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 305,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,030,000 after buying an additional 35,657 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE:INGR opened at $136.40 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $107.40 and a 52-week high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released 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 net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. The trade was 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 over the last ninety days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.