Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Position Increased by Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,355 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 547 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. increased its position in Ingredion by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 9,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,264,000 after buying an additional 2,044 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Ingredion by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 163,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,501,000 after buying an additional 6,845 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $204,000. TFB Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $477,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in Ingredion by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,490,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This represents 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 owned by company insiders.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.2 %

INGR stock opened at $126.70 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $109.51 and a twelve month 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on INGR shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens lowered their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.20.

Ingredion 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.