Analysts Set Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Price Target at $155.17

Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on INGR shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.2 %

Ingredion stock opened at $147.34 on Thursday. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $101.00 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $139.58 and a 200 day moving average of $128.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ingredion will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. This represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total transaction of $49,558.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,328 shares of company stock worth $1,649,741. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew 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 last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the second quarter worth $33,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

About Ingredion

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.