Analysts Set Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) PT at $154.33

Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $158.20.

Several analysts have recently commented on INGR shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Stephens reduced 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $126.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $135.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.50. 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 has a 1-year low of $109.51 and a 1-year high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.80 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $96,012,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 38,341.7% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 509,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,067,000 after acquiring an additional 508,027 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth about $58,642,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 327.2% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 531,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,101,000 after buying an additional 407,027 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 93.2% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 652,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,790,000 after buying an additional 314,912 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.