Cerity Partners LLC Sells 10,452 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Cerity Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 49.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,489 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,452 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Ingredion were worth $1,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,591 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $326,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 3,923.1% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,230 shares of the company's stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 5,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,655,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Ingredion stock traded up $1.32 on Tuesday, hitting $134.38. 420,048 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 475,529. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $137.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.63. The company has a current ratio of 2.85, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $117.49 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The company has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.72.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.53. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.53% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Ingredion's payout ratio is currently 33.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on INGR. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ingredion from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $151.40.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total transaction of $325,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,996 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,345,696.72. This represents a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.