Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Hits New 52-Week High at $137.21

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $137.21 and last traded at $136.63, with a volume of 11399 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upgraded Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.33.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.73.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This is a boost from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 31.26%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,046,374.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,046,374.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total value of $174,239.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,040,595.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,045 shares of company stock worth $3,482,491. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Loews Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Loews Corp now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,706,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 230.9% in the 1st quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 9,577 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 154.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 77,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,101,000 after purchasing an additional 47,225 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,305,000 after purchasing an additional 21,619 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Ingredion during the 1st quarter valued at $1,154,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by 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.