FIL Ltd Has $16.73 Million Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

FIL Ltd cut its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 56.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 121,640 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157,470 shares during the period. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $16,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,012,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 38,341.7% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 509,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,067,000 after purchasing an additional 508,027 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at $58,642,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Ingredion by 93.2% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 652,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,790,000 after buying an additional 314,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ingredion by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,056,000 after buying an additional 268,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $129.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $130.28 and a 200-day moving average of $136.02. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $109.51 and a 1-year high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $145.00 target price (down previously from $165.00) on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.60.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm’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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion 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.