Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on INGR. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $152.20.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:INGR traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $138.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 568,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 474,251. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $134.10 and a 200-day moving average of $134.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $111.54 and a 12-month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The company's revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ingredion 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 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. This trade 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. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Ingredion by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 583,081 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,209,000 after acquiring an additional 10,703 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 606.2% during the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,230,000 after acquiring an additional 32,639 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at about $963,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 93.2% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 652,734 shares of the company's stock worth $89,790,000 after buying an additional 314,912 shares during the period. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Ingredion by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,428 shares of the company's stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% 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.