Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after buying an additional 19,560 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ingredion by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,332,000 after acquiring an additional 846,967 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,539,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,529,000 after acquiring an additional 36,421 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,516,000 after acquiring an additional 19,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,683,000 after purchasing an additional 10,812 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $136.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $107.20 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.56. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ingredion will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 31.22%.

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.