Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 8,876 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,781 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,876 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $7,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in Ingredion by 45.2% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 8,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 2,506 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 22,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,412,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth about $109,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,553,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total value of $6,399,076.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,635,601.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,921 shares of company stock valued at $6,903,045. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.67.

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR opened at $114.35 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $115.16 and a 200-day moving average of $107.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $89.54 and a 12-month high of $118.83. The stock has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.50%.

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.