Heartland Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,985 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,589 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.14% of Ingredion worth $12,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 4,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Mindset Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $594,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Ingredion by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $943,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $135.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $131.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.46. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $109.51 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The stock has a market cap of $8.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on INGR. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens reduced their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the business’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 $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% 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.