Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $151.40.

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Ingredion from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Ingredion Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:INGR traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $136.11. The stock had a trading volume of 261,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 470,478. The business's 50 day moving average is $137.51 and its 200 day moving average is $133.75. Ingredion has a fifty-two week low of $113.94 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The stock has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 1.86.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. Ingredion's payout ratio is 33.76%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total value of $325,968.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,996 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,345,696.72. This represents a 6.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in Ingredion by 40.2% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 279 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,914 shares of the company's stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,303 shares of the company's stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Guys Formula LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 5.7% in the first quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ingredion

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.