Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Stock Holdings Boosted by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,302 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,056 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned 0.07% of Ingredion worth $6,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its position in Ingredion by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 4,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Ingredion by 0.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,427,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 3.3% in the third quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $127.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50-day moving average is $137.62 and its 200-day moving average is $136.28. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $107.77 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. This represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens dropped their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.33.

About Ingredion

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.