Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday.

A number of other research firms have also commented on INGR. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ingredion from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $127.17.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR stock opened at $114.75 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion has a one year low of $89.54 and a one year high of $122.18.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.08. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 16.56% and a net margin of 8.45%. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ingredion will post 9.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 31.26%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total transaction of $3,199,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,197 shares in the company, valued at $6,073,642.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 8,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.74, for a total value of $1,033,572.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,833 shares in the company, valued at $5,214,489.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total value of $3,199,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,361 shares of company stock worth $4,515,876 over the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ingredion by 102.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Ingredion by 63.9% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.