Hennessy Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 426,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,642,000. Ingredion accounts for about 1.7% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Ingredion by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 192,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14,343 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Ingredion by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 26,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,028,000 after acquiring an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Ingredion by 154.0% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 41,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,749,000 after acquiring an additional 25,105 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth about $241,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 15,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,776,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $134.37 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $141.69 and a 200-day moving average of $133.95. The company has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.67. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1 year low of $107.20 and a 1 year high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. Ingredion’s revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,454,105.94. This trade represents a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.17.

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.