Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 8,876 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,781 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,876 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.10% of Ingredion worth $7,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 73.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 752,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,019,000 after acquiring an additional 317,509 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 74.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 540,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,174,000 after purchasing an additional 230,885 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,345,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,810,000 after buying an additional 161,922 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 833.7% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 136,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,442,000 after acquiring an additional 121,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp Et Al purchased a new position in Ingredion in the third quarter worth $7,889,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $114.35 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $89.54 and a twelve month high of $118.83. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average of $115.16 and a 200 day moving average of $107.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on INGR. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,333,407.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,333,407.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,921 shares of company stock valued at $6,903,045 over the last ninety days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.