ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated $INGR

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 0.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 372,289 shares of the company’s stock after selling 669 shares during the period. Ingredion comprises 1.9% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $50,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in Ingredion during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new position in Ingredion during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in Ingredion by 40.2% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Ingredion during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Ingredion during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

INGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 36,287 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.52, for a total transaction of $4,591,031.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,342,321.08. This trade represents a 41.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total transaction of $109,131.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,171 shares in the company, valued at $4,002,044.69. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,137 shares of company stock worth $4,700,163 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Up 1.1%

INGR opened at $120.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.80, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $119.31 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.87 EPS. Ingredion has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.100-11.600 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.00%.

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.