First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys 3,248 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 111,901 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,248 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $15,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 70,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,642,000 after purchasing an additional 3,304 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its stake in Ingredion by 254.8% in the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 148,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,338,000 after purchasing an additional 106,500 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth about $716,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ingredion by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.2 %

Ingredion stock opened at $130.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $109.51 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $131.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.55.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 32.96%.

About Ingredion

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.