Vestcor Inc Buys New Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR stock opened at $131.37 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $131.60 and a 200 day moving average of $136.59. 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 $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price 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. Oppenheimer cut their target price 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. Stephens cut 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

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

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.