KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes $2.66 Million Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 19,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,655,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 38,341.7% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 509,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,067,000 after purchasing an additional 508,027 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,642,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ingredion by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,056,000 after buying an additional 268,389 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth about $31,752,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,454,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR opened at $135.01 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a PE ratio of 13.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. 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 Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $109.51 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on INGR shares. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

About Ingredion

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.