Metis Global Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,853 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,035 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 154.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 77,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,101,000 after acquiring an additional 47,225 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its position in Ingredion by 2,629.3% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 3,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 3,681 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 321,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,902,000 after purchasing an additional 115,147 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $528,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $5,301,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on INGR. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.17.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total value of $174,239.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,040,595.90. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total value of $721,027.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,454,105.94. The trade was a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,178 shares of company stock valued at $4,982,857. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $138.84 on Tuesday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $100.90 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $137.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

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.