Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Price Target Raised to $173.00

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) had its price target hoisted by UBS Group from $165.00 to $173.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on INGR. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.17.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $138.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.70. 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 has a 1-year low of $100.90 and a 1-year high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.80 dividend. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,454,105.94. This trade represents a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,967,399.22. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,178 shares of company stock valued at $4,982,857 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,332,000 after purchasing an additional 846,967 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 55,219.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 174,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,240,000 after buying an additional 174,495 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,685,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,009,000 after acquiring an additional 125,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,094,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.