Analysts Set Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Price Target at $126.67

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $126.67.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

Ingredion Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $113.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.81. 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 has a 1 year low of $89.54 and a 1 year high of $118.83.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm 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%. Ingredion’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ingredion news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total value of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at $11,635,601.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 63.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 414.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 40.2% in 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. 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.