Norges Bank Makes New $96.01 Million Investment in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 697,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,012,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 653.3% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on INGR shares. Stephens cut their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.20.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $136.01 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $131.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $109.51 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.