KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Cuts Stock Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS decreased its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth about $96,012,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 327.2% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 531,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,101,000 after buying an additional 407,027 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 42.9% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,204,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,840,000 after acquiring an additional 361,584 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 536.6% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 361,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,680,000 after acquiring an additional 304,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,752,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.40.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of INGR opened at $133.10 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $118.85 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $136.91 and a 200 day moving average of $133.63. The firm has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a current ratio of 2.85.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.53. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.53% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 33.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total value of $325,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,345,696.72. This trade represents a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.