Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.67.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Ingredion news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,635,601.04. 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 in the last three months. 1.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Ingredion by 63.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Ingredion by 414.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR opened at $118.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.64. Ingredion has a 52-week low of $89.54 and a 52-week high of $118.83.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Ingredion will post 9.62 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.50%.

Ingredion Company Profile

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.