Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on INGR. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ingredion from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $127.17.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.2 %

Ingredion stock opened at $115.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Ingredion has a fifty-two week low of $89.54 and a fifty-two week high of $122.18.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.08. Ingredion had a return on equity of 16.56% and a net margin of 8.45%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 9.76 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 31.26%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total value of $3,199,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 8,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.74, for a total value of $1,033,572.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,214,489.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,197 shares in the company, valued at $6,073,642.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,361 shares of company stock valued at $4,515,876. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Ingredion by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Pflug Koory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 12,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its position in Ingredion by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 2,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 15,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,508,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, STAR Financial Bank boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. STAR Financial Bank now owns 3,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. 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.