Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Shares Sold by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 8.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 388,300 shares of the company's stock after selling 38,000 shares during the period. Ingredion comprises about 1.7% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.60% of Ingredion worth $52,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of INGR. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 583,081 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,209,000 after purchasing an additional 10,703 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 606.2% in the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,230,000 after buying an additional 32,639 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at $963,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 93.2% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 652,734 shares of the company's stock worth $89,790,000 after buying an additional 314,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Ingredion by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,428 shares of the company's stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,210 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 8th. UBS Group set a $155.00 target price on Ingredion in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $152.20.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR traded down $0.16 on Tuesday, reaching $137.50. The stock had a trading volume of 388,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 543,719. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $111.54 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.00 and a 200 day moving average of $134.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.53. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total transaction of $325,968.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,996 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,345,696.72. This trade represents a 6.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.30% 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.