Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $3.63 Million Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 26,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,633,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 38,341.7% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 509,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,067,000 after purchasing an additional 508,027 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $58,642,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,056,000 after buying an additional 268,389 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the third quarter valued at about $17,094,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in Ingredion by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 842,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,930,000 after buying an additional 89,335 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $133.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $131.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $109.51 and a 52 week high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Ingredion’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Activity

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.20.

Ingredion 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.