Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Holdings Lifted by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 92.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 846,967 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $202,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in INGR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at $82,272,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,773,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $843,617,000 after purchasing an additional 427,496 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 177.8% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 396,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,491,000 after purchasing an additional 253,949 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 98.5% in the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 393,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,789,000 after buying an additional 195,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ingredion by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,685,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,009,000 after buying an additional 125,543 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $134.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.52. The company has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a PE ratio of 13.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $128.74 and a 200-day moving average of $120.12. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $89.54 and a one year high of $137.21.

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

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.06%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total transaction of $134,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,070.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total transaction of $134,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,070.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $149,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,988,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,045 shares of company stock worth $3,482,491. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.