Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ingredion from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $127.17.

Ingredion Price Performance

Ingredion stock opened at $115.01 on Thursday. Ingredion has a 52 week low of $89.54 and a 52 week high of $122.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.72.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ingredion will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total value of $3,199,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 8,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.74, for a total transaction of $1,033,572.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,214,489.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total value of $3,199,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 38,359 shares of company stock valued at $4,515,644. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 59.8% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.