Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Price Target Raised to $173.00 at UBS Group

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $165.00 to $173.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.17.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR stock opened at $140.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion has a fifty-two week low of $100.90 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $137.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.61.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Ingredion will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This is a boost from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 31.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total value of $174,239.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,040,595.90. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,454,105.94. The trade was a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,056 shares of company stock worth $4,121,736. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 154.0% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 77,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,101,000 after purchasing an additional 47,225 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Ingredion by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,305,000 after buying an additional 21,619 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in Ingredion by 2,629.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 3,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 3,681 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 55.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 321,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,902,000 after acquiring an additional 115,147 shares during the period. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter valued at approximately $528,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Company 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.