Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives $126.67 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.67.

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

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE:INGR opened at $116.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.83. Ingredion has a twelve month low of $89.54 and a twelve month high of $118.83.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ingredion will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total value of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,635,601.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the company’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 transaction of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,333,407.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,921 shares of company stock valued at $6,903,037 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 1,034.8% in the 4th quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 8,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 7,347 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in Ingredion by 46.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 10,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after buying an additional 3,356 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ingredion by 5.8% in the 4th 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. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its stake in Ingredion by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 275,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,936,000 after buying an additional 9,684 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.