Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on INGR. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.33.

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR opened at $127.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $138.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.97. Ingredion has a 1-year low of $107.77 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ingredion will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ingredion news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,083,922.44. This trade represents a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’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 transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, 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 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of INGR. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth about $20,454,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $208,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,269,000 after buying an additional 3,292 shares during the period. Finally, Taika Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth about $729,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.