Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,804,314 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,067 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 2.77% of Ingredion worth $195,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ingredion by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 4,004 shares of the company's stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth $312,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Ingredion by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 30,500 shares of the company's stock worth $3,001,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Ingredion by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 138,034 shares of the company's stock worth $13,583,000 after purchasing an additional 15,462 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position 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. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on INGR shares. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $127.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 8,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.74, for a total value of $1,033,572.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,833 shares in the company, valued at $5,214,489.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 8,490 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.74, for a total transaction of $1,033,572.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,214,489.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,779 shares of company stock worth $8,218,681. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE INGR traded down $0.47 on Wednesday, hitting $117.66. The stock had a trading volume of 424,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,891. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $89.54 and a one year high of $122.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $7.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.81. The company's 50-day moving average is $115.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.33.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.08. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.45% and a return on equity of 16.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. Ingredion's quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.26%.

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.