Head to Head Contrast: Ingredion (INGR) and Its Competitors

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) is one of 328 public companies in the “Food Products” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Ingredion to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and valuation.

Dividends

Ingredion pays an annual dividend of $3.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Ingredion pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Food Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 12.3% and pay out 29.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Ingredion has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Ingredion lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.3% of Ingredion shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Ingredion shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Ingredion has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingredion’s rivals have a beta of -3.83, meaning that their average share price is 483% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Ingredion and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingredion	0	8	1	0	2.11
Ingredion Competitors	2446	8291	8367	403	2.34

Ingredion currently has a consensus target price of $119.83, indicating a potential upside of 22.66%. As a group, “Food Products” companies have a potential upside of 16.16%. Given Ingredion’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ingredion is more favorable than its rivals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ingredion and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ingredion	$7.21 billion	$729.00 million	10.65
Ingredion Competitors	$15.44 billion	$700.97 million	-2,414.13

Ingredion’s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Ingredion. Ingredion is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Ingredion and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingredion	8.21%	15.40%	8.48%
Ingredion Competitors	-13.58%	-142.63%	-2.62%

Summary

Ingredion beats its rivals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

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. The company offers starch products for use in a range of processed foods; cornstarch; specialty paper starches for enhanced drainage, fiber retention, oil and grease resistance, improved printability, and biochemical oxygen demand control; starches and specialty starches for textile industry; industrial starches are used in the production of construction materials, textiles, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, as well as in mining and water filtration; and specialty industrial starches for use in biomaterial applications, including biodegradable plastics, fabric softeners and detergents, hair and skin care applications, dusting powders for surgical gloves, and in the production of glass fiber and insulation. It also provides sweetener products comprising glucose syrups, high maltose syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrin, glucose syrup solids, and non-genetically modified organism syrups for applications in food and beverage products, such as baked goods, snack foods, canned fruits, condiments, candy and other sweets, dairy products, ice cream, jams and jellies, prepared mixes, table syrups, and beverages. In addition, the company sells refined corn oil, corn gluten feed, and corn gluten meal; and other products, including fruit and vegetable products, such as concentrates, purees, and essences, as well as pulse proteins and hydrocolloids systems and blends. The company was formerly known as Corn Products International, Inc. and changed its name to Ingredion Incorporated in June 2012. Ingredion Incorporated was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Westchester, Illinois.