Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 666 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,546 shares of the company’s stock after selling 666 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 195.2% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after purchasing an additional 19,560 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after buying an additional 83,708 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Ingredion by 1.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,683,000 after buying an additional 10,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth about $344,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR opened at $135.54 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $109.51 and a 52-week high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of 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 cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.