Covea Finance Boosts Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Covea Finance raised its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,500 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Covea Finance owned 0.08% of Ingredion worth $7,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of INGR. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 1st quarter worth about $226,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Ingredion by 0.4% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 27,928 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,775,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Ingredion by 9.6% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,591 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,973,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272 shares during the last quarter. RHS Financial LLC raised its holdings in Ingredion by 24.5% during the first quarter. RHS Financial LLC now owns 3,730 shares of the company's stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,041 shares of the company's stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

INGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 8th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $155.00 price target on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $152.20.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR traded down $1.66 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $137.57. The company had a trading volume of 461,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 470,769. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $111.54 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $135.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Ingredion's payout ratio is currently 33.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 now directly owns 31,996 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,345,696.72. This trade represents a 6.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.