Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $158.20.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on INGR. StockNews.com cut Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Ingredion by 222.6% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,629 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at $213,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 3rd quarter worth $453,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 55.3% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 11,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,557,000 after acquiring an additional 4,036 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the third quarter valued at $5,277,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $126.70 on Tuesday. Ingredion 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 50-day moving average price of $135.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.39. The stock has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

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.