Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $126.67.

Several research analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th.

Ingredion Stock Up 1.3 %

Ingredion stock opened at $111.51 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $89.54 and a 12-month high of $118.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $114.72 and its 200 day moving average is $107.04. The company has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.62, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.81.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total transaction of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ingredion during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Aspire Private Capital LLC lifted its position in Ingredion by 172.3% during the fourth quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,667,220,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Ingredion by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Ingredion by 63.9% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. 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.