Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Shares Acquired by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 93.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 652,734 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 314,912 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.00% of Ingredion worth $89,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $86,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 15.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 7,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after buying an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,569,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 33.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,767,000 after purchasing an additional 12,270 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on INGR. Stephens dropped their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.20.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $132.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $131.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.50. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $109.51 and a 52 week high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. Ingredion’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.