Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Purchases 5,019 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 405.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,258 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,019 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Ingredion were worth $861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 36,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in Ingredion by 519.7% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 55,717 shares of the company's stock worth $7,664,000 after acquiring an additional 46,726 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 583,081 shares of the company's stock worth $80,209,000 after buying an additional 10,703 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP increased its stake in Ingredion by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 2,203 shares of the company's stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC increased its position in Ingredion by 220.4% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 2,759 shares of the company's stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 1,898 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR stock traded down $1.23 during trading on Thursday, reaching $131.59. The company had a trading volume of 54,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,949. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $111.54 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The company has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.58.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Ingredion's payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value 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 approximately $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.80% 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.