Brokerages Set Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) PT at $126.67

Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.67.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,245.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total transaction of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock valued at $6,903,045. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 1,760.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in Ingredion by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 24,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,125,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Ingredion by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,790,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,608,000 after acquiring an additional 107,110 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 14.6% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 42,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 5,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.2% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 29,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,612,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $113.67 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $114.93 and its 200 day moving average is $107.31. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $89.54 and a 12-month high of $118.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.81.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The business’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 9.62 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 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

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.