Fractal Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 2,500 Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Fractal Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 19,560 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,056,000 after buying an additional 268,389 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 2.4% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Ingredion by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,683,000 after acquiring an additional 10,812 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $126.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $138.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.03. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $107.40 and a one year high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 31.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens decreased their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 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. Insiders have sold 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Profile

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.