William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $376,000 Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 25.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,736 shares of the company’s stock after selling 935 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 124.8% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,462,000 after acquiring an additional 34,189 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 12.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.4% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,823,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter valued at $86,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $132.41 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day moving average is $131.55 and its 200-day moving average is $136.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $109.51 and a 12 month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

INGR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens decreased their price objective on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company 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.