Mariner LLC Grows Stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Mariner LLC grew its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,980 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the period. Mariner LLC's holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,865 shares of the company's stock worth $13,323,000 after buying an additional 49,574 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,867 shares of the company's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 14,399 shares of the company's stock worth $1,981,000 after buying an additional 1,254 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in Ingredion by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 83,834 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,532,000 after buying an additional 2,212 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth about $31,752,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $131.12. 43,825 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 461,128. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $130.88 and a 200 day moving average of $135.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1 year low of $111.54 and a 1 year high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid 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 2.44%. Ingredion's payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.