11,452 Shares in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Bought by Sciencast Management LP

Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,575,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in Ingredion by 195.2% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Ingredion by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after purchasing an additional 19,560 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 75.7% in the third 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 period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 1.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,683,000 after purchasing an additional 10,812 shares during the period. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC purchased a new position in Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $344,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $130.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $109.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62.

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

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens dropped their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.20.

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.