Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 9,612 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 31.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,611 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,612 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned 0.06% of Ingredion worth $5,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ingredion by 653.3% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:INGR traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $140.12. The stock had a trading volume of 313,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 469,007. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $111.54 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.78.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.53. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The business 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 business posted $2.08 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,996 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,345,696.72. This represents a 6.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,215 shares of company stock valued at $1,687,360. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on INGR. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $155.00 price objective on Ingredion in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $152.20.

Ingredion 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.