Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Short Interest Down 12.1% in August

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 949,700 shares, a decrease of 12.1% from the August 15th total of 1,080,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 385,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $149,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,906 shares in the company, valued at $1,988,250. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ingredion news, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $149,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,988,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,045 shares of company stock worth $3,482,491. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Ingredion by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth $36,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Stock Up 1.1 %

INGR traded up $1.47 on Wednesday, reaching $135.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 269,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 378,158. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Ingredion has a 1 year low of $89.54 and a 1 year high of $137.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $127.46 and its 200 day moving average is $119.77. The stock has a market cap of $8.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The business’s revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ingredion will post 9.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upgraded Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $122.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.33.

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.