Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Price Target Raised to $168.00

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) had its target price upped by Barclays from $145.00 to $168.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.00.

Ingredion Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of INGR opened at $151.55 on Wednesday. Ingredion has a 52 week low of $100.53 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $136.22 and a 200-day moving average of $125.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. Ingredion’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total transaction of $49,558.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total value of $49,558.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,159 shares in the company, valued at $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total value of $721,027.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,454,105.94. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,056 shares of company stock valued at $4,121,736. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 57,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,668,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the first quarter worth $1,812,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.7% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 17,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 2.9% in the first quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 952,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,254,000 after purchasing an additional 27,062 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the first quarter worth $1,687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.