Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Shares Sold by Avantax Planning Partners Inc.

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. trimmed its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,651 shares of the company’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of INGR. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 431.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of INGR stock opened at $130.39 on Thursday. 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 market cap of $8.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $131.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.59. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $109.51 and a 1-year high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.20.

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.