Stephens Inc. AR Has $554,000 Stock Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Stephens Inc. AR cut its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,029 shares of the company’s stock after selling 996 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.8% during 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 during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 5.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,720,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 3.3% during the third quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $126.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.98 and a 200-day moving average of $136.27. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $109.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued 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 payout ratio is 32.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 decreased their target price 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens decreased their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.33.

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.