Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Hits New 12-Month High at $119.02

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $119.02 and last traded at $118.57, with a volume of 15489 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.45.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 target price 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 report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.67.

Ingredion Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $115.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.81.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. Ingredion’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total transaction of $231,003.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at $202,245.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total transaction 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 have sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the first quarter valued at about $286,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.3% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 68,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,060,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 4.0% during the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 2.4% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,821,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 3.4% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 301,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,251,000 after acquiring an additional 9,925 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.