Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 11,422 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 205,717 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,422 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.32% of Ingredion worth $28,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 115,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,836,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 38,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,243,000 after buying an additional 9,323 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 67,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,338,000 after acquiring an additional 24,679 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR stock opened at $130.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $131.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.47. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $109.51 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.71.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its 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 net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.96%.

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.