Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,443 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 131 shares during the quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $1,161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 25,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 8,060 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 234.1% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 140,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,258,000 after buying an additional 98,100 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 870,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,721,000 after buying an additional 46,819 shares in the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth about $356,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ingredion by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,880,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $125.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $131.25 and a 200 day moving average of $136.39. The company has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a PE ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $109.51 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective (down previously from $165.00) on shares of Ingredion in a report on Monday. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.60.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

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

Ingredion 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.