Highland Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Ingredion in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Ingredion by 431.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in Ingredion by 82.6% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ingredion in the third quarter valued at $86,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens upgraded Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.17.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE INGR opened at $136.40 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $139.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.69. The firm has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1 year low of $107.40 and a 1 year high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,454,105.94. This trade represents a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868 in the last ninety days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.