Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09, Zacks reports. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $134.79 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Ingredion has a 52-week low of $107.40 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The company has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $139.51 and a 200 day moving average of $135.94.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,454,105.94. This represents a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens upgraded shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.17.

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.