CCM Investment Group LLC Buys New Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Key Points

• CCM Investment Group LLC has acquired a new position in Ingredion Incorporated, purchasing 2,932 shares valued at approximately $396,000.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.87, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite a 2.4% drop in revenue compared to the previous year.
• Ingredion recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.80, with an annualized yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 31.22%.

CCM Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,932 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in Ingredion by 40.2% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 279 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 1st quarter worth $41,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.6%

INGR stock traded down $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $125.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 91,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,770. The company has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.71. The business's 50 day moving average price is $133.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $133.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $120.51 and a 12 month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 9.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 1st. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 36,287 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.52, for a total transaction of $4,591,031.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 50,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,342,321.08. This represents a 41.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total value of $109,131.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,002,044.69. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,137 shares of company stock worth $4,700,163 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on INGR. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on Ingredion from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $151.40.

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.