Centric Wealth Management Acquires New Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Centric Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,590,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paradiem LLC grew its holdings in Ingredion by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 73,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,943,000 after buying an additional 28,617 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 2.9% during the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 34,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,402,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 833.7% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 136,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,442,000 after purchasing an additional 121,976 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 1.4% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 908,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,424,000 after purchasing an additional 12,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 73.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 752,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,019,000 after purchasing an additional 317,509 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Up 1.1 %

INGR stock traded up $1.28 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $117.85. The company had a trading volume of 427,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,061. 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 52 week low of $89.54 and a 52 week high of $118.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $115.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.31. The stock has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.81.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced 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 company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on INGR. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.67.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,333,407.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045 over the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.