Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 19,771 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 151,139 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,771 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.23% of Ingredion worth $17,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 94,821.3% during the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 44,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,117,000 after acquiring an additional 44,566 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ingredion by 68.0% during the 2nd quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 10.4% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

NYSE INGR traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $134.31. 304,887 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 330,607. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.08. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1 year low of $89.54 and a 1 year high of $134.45. The company has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.72.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. Ingredion’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on INGR. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays upgraded Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total transaction of $3,199,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,073,642.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total value of $174,239.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,040,595.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total transaction of $3,199,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,995 shares of company stock worth $3,657,534 in the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.