Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Stake Cut by Keene & Associates Inc.

Keene & Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,091 shares of the company’s stock after selling 456 shares during the quarter. Ingredion accounts for 2.9% of Keene & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $3,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter valued at $36,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on INGR shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.33.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE:INGR opened at $134.60 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $89.54 and a twelve month high of $137.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Ingredion Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,046,374.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ingredion news, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $149,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,988,250. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,046,374.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,045 shares of company stock worth $3,482,491 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.