Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on INGR. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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. Oppenheimer raised 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stephens upgraded Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd.

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR stock opened at $138.57 on Monday. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $106.03 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The firm has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average of $142.71 and a 200-day moving average of $132.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted 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 return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ingredion will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total value of $49,558.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,159 shares in the company, valued at $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,197 shares of company stock valued at $9,702,325. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 82.6% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.