Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

INGR has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer set a $136.00 target price on Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ingredion from $144.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Ingredion from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Ingredion from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.40.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $113.90 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $122.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.02. Ingredion has a twelve month low of $113.79 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 9.24%.The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.00%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 36,287 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.52, for a total transaction of $4,591,031.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,342,321.08. This trade represents a 41.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ingredion during the 2nd quarter valued at $82,779,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Ingredion by 42.9% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,204,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,840,000 after purchasing an additional 361,584 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Ingredion by 1,093.5% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 365,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,445,000 after purchasing an additional 335,052 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Ingredion by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 722,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,531,000 after purchasing an additional 288,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Ingredion by 37.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 982,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,883,000 after purchasing an additional 265,263 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.