Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $117.00 to $120.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Ingredion traded as high as $119.02 and last traded at $118.57, with a volume of 15489 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $118.45.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.17.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.11, for a total value of $282,171.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,436,085.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ingredion news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.11, for a total value of $282,171.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,436,085.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,289 shares of company stock valued at $7,185,108. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,272,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,773,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $843,617,000 after purchasing an additional 427,496 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 73.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 752,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,019,000 after buying an additional 317,509 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Ingredion by 74.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 540,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,174,000 after buying an additional 230,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its position in Ingredion by 98.5% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 393,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,789,000 after acquiring an additional 195,106 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 2.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.81.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.08. Ingredion had a return on equity of 16.56% and a net margin of 8.45%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.26%.

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.