Highland Capital Management LLC Invests $265,000 in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth $33,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Ingredion by 431.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in Ingredion by 82.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter valued at about $86,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.17.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR opened at $136.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $107.40 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $139.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.69.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 31.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.