Short Interest in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Expands By 18.6%

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 681,800 shares, an increase of 18.6% from the March 15th total of 574,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 406,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on INGR. Barclays lifted their price target on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com raised Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,635,601.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,333,407.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total value of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,635,601.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock valued at $6,903,045. 1.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signet Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 1st quarter worth approximately $476,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 197.8% during the 1st quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,493,000. Bank of New Hampshire raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 16,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 230.9% during the 1st quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 9,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $110.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.81. Ingredion has a 1-year low of $89.54 and a 1-year high of $118.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $114.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.57% and a net margin of 7.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ingredion will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

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.