Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays increased their price target on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ingredion from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $127.17.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $113.89 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $115.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.41, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion has a 52-week low of $89.54 and a 52-week high of $122.18.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.08. Ingredion had a return on equity of 16.56% and a net margin of 8.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ingredion will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 31.26%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.11, for a total transaction of $282,171.59. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,436,085.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total transaction of $3,199,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.11, for a total value of $282,171.59. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,436,085.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,360 shares of company stock worth $4,515,761 over the last ninety days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Loews Corp boosted its position in Ingredion by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Loews Corp now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,706,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Paradiem LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 73,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,943,000 after acquiring an additional 28,617 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Ingredion by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,471,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,243,000 after buying an additional 82,599 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in Ingredion by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 16,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Ingredion by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 117,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,788,000 after acquiring an additional 17,941 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Company 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.