Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Raises Stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,669 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,428 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 653.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth $55,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the business'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 owns 31,996 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,345,696.72. The trade was a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on INGR. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $155.00 target price on Ingredion in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $152.20.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of INGR stock traded down $1.22 on Friday, hitting $138.22. The stock had a trading volume of 387,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,068. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $134.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.85. The company has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $111.54 and a one year high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.76%.

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.