Fractal Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Fractal Investments LLC bought a new position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 195.2% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after buying an additional 19,560 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 75.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,109,000 after buying an additional 83,708 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 10,812 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 305,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,030,000 after acquiring an additional 35,657 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on INGR shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.33.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.6 %

INGR opened at $126.32 on Thursday. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $107.40 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 market cap of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $138.40 and its 200 day moving average is $136.03.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

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.