Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 11,492 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 742,188 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,492 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 1.15% of Ingredion worth $100,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of INGR. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 372,958 shares of the company's stock worth $50,428,000 after buying an additional 6,023 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the first quarter worth about $130,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,624 shares of the company's stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the first quarter worth $646,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Ingredion by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 17,356 shares of the company's stock worth $2,343,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $155.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $152.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $325,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,996 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,345,696.72. This trade represents a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $137.35. 226,583 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 470,856. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.72. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $137.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.93. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $111.54 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a current ratio of 2.85.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 8.53%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

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

Ingredion 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.