Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Holdings Lifted by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE: INGR) by 10.8% during the first quarter, owning approximately 0.15% of the company valued at $13.18 million.
• Ingredion reported earnings of $2.97 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations by $0.53, although its revenue fell 3.7% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share with an annualized payout of $3.20, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.41%.

Heartland Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 10.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,474 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 9,489 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned about 0.15% of Ingredion worth $13,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,285,705 shares of the company's stock worth $1,002,222,000 after purchasing an additional 84,863 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,218,628 shares of the company's stock worth $164,771,000 after buying an additional 22,333 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,204,347 shares of the company's stock valued at $162,840,000 after buying an additional 361,584 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,182,434 shares of the company's stock valued at $162,703,000 after buying an additional 14,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Ingredion by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 870,317 shares of the company's stock worth $119,721,000 after acquiring an additional 46,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $132.16. 77,151 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 529,353. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $118.85 and a twelve month 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 firm has a market cap of $8.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.72. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $136.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.64.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on INGR. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $151.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,996 shares in the company, valued at $4,345,696.72. This trade represents a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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.