Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also commented on INGR. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stephens reduced their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group set a $155.00 target price on Ingredion in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.20.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.0%

INGR opened at $139.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion has a 52 week low of $111.54 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.11.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total value of $325,968.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,345,696.72. The trade was a 6.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,373,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 2,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 59.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,095,000 after buying an additional 5,413 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.