Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,360 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,687 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,360 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $782,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,642,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,056,000 after purchasing an additional 268,389 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 55,219.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 174,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,240,000 after purchasing an additional 174,495 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new position in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,094,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 75.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $127.66 on Tuesday. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $107.77 and a one year high of $155.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $137.62 and a 200-day moving average of $136.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. Ingredion’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,992 shares of company stock worth $8,913,841. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ingredion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.33.

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.