Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 6,937 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 65.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,480 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,937 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,696,000 after buying an additional 4,984 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,000. Globeflex Capital L P bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $143,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 42,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,903,000 after buying an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 111,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,248 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on INGR shares. StockNews.com cut Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $131.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $131.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.51. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $109.51 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The stock has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.96%.

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.