Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.99 Million in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,986,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Ingredion by 63.9% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 377 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Ingredion by 414.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 401 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 484 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares of the company's stock, valued at $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,333,407.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE INGR traded up $1.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $112.36. 249,378 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 401,864. The business's 50 day moving average is $114.76 and its 200-day moving average is $107.16. The company has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.81. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1 year low of $89.54 and a 1 year high of $118.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.57% and a net margin of 7.88%. The business's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on INGR. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ingredion from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $126.67.

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.