Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Ingredion has been downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen, reflecting concerns about its stock performance.
• UBS Group lowered its price target for Ingredion from $144.00 to $130.00, indicating a move toward a more cautious outlook.
• Insider trading activity included CEO James P. Zallie selling over 36,000 shares, decreasing his ownership by 41.99%, which may signal potential challenges ahead for the company.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on INGR. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ingredion from $144.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.20.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR opened at $119.78 on Friday. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $119.31 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $125.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.36. The company has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.74.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 9.24%.The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. The business's revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Ingredion has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.100-11.600 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 36,287 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.52, for a total value of $4,591,031.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,342,321.08. This trade represents a 41.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total value of $109,131.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,002,044.69. This trade represents a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 37,137 shares of company stock valued at $4,700,163. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of INGR. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 810.7% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 255 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 40.2% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 279 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth about $40,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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