Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Lowers Stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 21.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,964 shares of the company’s stock after selling 825 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,186,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 332,719 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 317,509 shares during the period. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth $27,801,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Ingredion by 74.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 540,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,174,000 after purchasing an additional 230,885 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $231,003.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,245.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,333,407.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,037. Insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on 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 Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.67.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Ingredion stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $117.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 144,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 407,065. The firm has a market cap of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.81. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $89.54 and a twelve month high of $118.83. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $113.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.64. 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.