ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $50.43 Million Stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 372,958 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,023 shares during the period. Ingredion comprises about 2.1% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.58% of Ingredion worth $50,428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,285,705 shares of the company's stock worth $1,002,222,000 after acquiring an additional 84,863 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,182,434 shares of the company's stock valued at $162,703,000 after purchasing an additional 14,741 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 870,317 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,721,000 after buying an additional 46,819 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 717,526 shares of the company's stock worth $98,703,000 after buying an additional 132,151 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,012,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on INGR shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 8th. UBS Group set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $152.20.

Ingredion Price Performance

NYSE INGR traded down $0.86 on Friday, reaching $137.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 226,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 470,856. The firm's 50 day moving average is $136.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.97. The stock has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.72. 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 Incorporated has a twelve month low of $111.54 and a twelve month high of $155.44.

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

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.76%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,996 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,345,696.72. The trade was a 6.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.