Wealthfront Advisers LLC Buys Shares of 148,690 Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 148,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,454,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ingredion by 216.5% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP increased its holdings in Ingredion by 52.8% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after buying an additional 3,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 3rd quarter valued at about $303,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Price Performance

Ingredion stock opened at $132.97 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $131.97 and its 200-day moving average is $136.64. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $109.51 and a 12 month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

INGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.20.

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.