Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,534 shares of the company’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 195.2% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Ingredion by 0.8% in the third 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ingredion by 75.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Ingredion by 1.5% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $344,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR stock opened at $135.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $132.08 and a 200-day moving average of $136.58. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $109.51 and a 12-month high of $155.44. 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 company has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

INGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.