MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 803 shares during the quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $5,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ingredion by 653.3% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Ingredion by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total value of $325,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,345,696.72. This represents a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,215 shares of company stock worth $1,687,360. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on INGR. UBS Group set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.20.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE INGR opened at $137.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $131.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a PE ratio of 14.19, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $111.54 and a 12 month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 33.76%.

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.