Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Stake Lifted by Venturi Wealth Management LLC

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 110.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 644 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 338 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $89,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of INGR. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Ingredion by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Ingredion by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 753,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,675,000 after acquiring an additional 28,306 shares in the last quarter. James Investment Research Inc. boosted its position in Ingredion by 105.0% during the 4th quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 6,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $904,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364 shares during the period. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 19,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,662,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

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 value of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,685 shares of company stock worth $9,414,112 in the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens dropped their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.20.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $128.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $133.87 and its 200-day moving average is $136.57. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $109.51 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.74.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.96%.

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.