Erste Asset Management GmbH Sells 2,650 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Erste Asset Management GmbH cut its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 54.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,250 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,650 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in INGR. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 48.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 4.8% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 124.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,462,000 after acquiring an additional 34,189 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 21,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,940,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INGR has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens cut their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.20.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $131.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $109.51 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $131.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

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

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.