University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 77.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,183 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,331 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 92.4% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,332,000 after purchasing an additional 846,967 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 427,496 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 177.8% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 396,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,491,000 after buying an additional 253,949 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 98.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Ingredion by 4.9% during the second 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $149,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,988,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,046,374.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $149,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 26,046 shares of company stock valued at $3,482,626 over the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $136.03 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $131.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.14. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $89.54 and a fifty-two week high of $138.37. The firm has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is an increase from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.06%.

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.