Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 681,800 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the March 15th total of 574,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 406,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total transaction of $231,003.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total transaction of $231,003.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at $202,245.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,921 shares of company stock valued at $6,903,045. Corporate insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at about $82,272,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 427,496 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 4,100.0% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 340,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,704,000 after acquiring an additional 332,719 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 73.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 752,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,019,000 after acquiring an additional 317,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 74.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 540,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,174,000 after acquiring an additional 230,885 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Price Performance

Ingredion stock opened at $110.15 on Friday. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $89.54 and a 12-month high of $118.83. The stock has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Ingredion’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

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.