Zacks Research Downgrades Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) to Strong Sell

Key Points

• Zacks Research has downgraded Ingredion (NYSE: INGR) from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating, indicating a significant shift in analyst sentiment.
• Despite the downgrade, other analysts like Weiss Ratings and Wall Street Zen have maintained or upgraded their ratings to "buy," reflecting a mixed outlook on the stock.
• Ingredion's recent quarter showed earnings of $2.87 per share, outperforming estimates, but revenue was down 2.4% year-over-year, signaling challenges in the company’s performance.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on INGR. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $144.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Oppenheimer set a $136.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ingredion from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.40.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR stock opened at $119.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Ingredion has a twelve month low of $118.56 and a twelve month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. Ingredion has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.100-11.600 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 36,287 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.52, for a total transaction of $4,591,031.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 50,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,342,321.08. This represents a 41.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total transaction of $109,131.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,171 shares in the company, valued at $4,002,044.69. This trade represents a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,137 shares of company stock worth $4,700,163 over the last quarter. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 40.2% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 279 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Vista Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vista Investment Management now owns 10,789 shares of the company's stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 5.8% during the first quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the company's stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 4.2% during the second quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the company's stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.3% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 30,187 shares of the company's stock worth $4,094,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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