Foster & Motley Inc. Grows Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 45.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,047 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,506 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 3rd quarter worth $453,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 33.7% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 484 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 85,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,424,000 after buying an additional 5,676 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 224.1% during the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 3,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the period. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its holdings in Ingredion by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 3,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at $11,635,601.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total value of $6,399,076.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,635,601.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $114.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $115.16 and a 200 day moving average of $107.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $89.54 and a 12 month high of $118.83.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.57% and a net margin of 7.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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 report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.67.

Ingredion 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.