Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 500 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Gabelli Funds LLC lessened its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $481,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after buying an additional 83,708 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 10,812 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 606.2% in the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,230,000 after acquiring an additional 32,639 shares in the last quarter. Fractal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth about $344,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 305,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,030,000 after purchasing an additional 35,657 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, 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 this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on INGR. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” 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. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $145.00 price objective (down from $165.00) on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.60.

Ingredion Trading Up 1.2 %

Ingredion stock opened at $129.59 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $130.50 and a 200-day moving average of $135.77. The company has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $111.54 and a one year high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

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.