Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Position Boosted by Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,355 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 547 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ingredion by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after purchasing an additional 19,560 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ingredion by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,056,000 after purchasing an additional 268,389 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Ingredion by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,539,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,529,000 after purchasing an additional 36,421 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,516,000 after purchasing an additional 19,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ingredion by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,683,000 after purchasing an additional 10,812 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $126.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $135.61 and a 200-day moving average of $136.39. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $109.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.