Boston Partners Sells 3,687 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Boston Partners decreased its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,114 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,687 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned approximately 0.10% of Ingredion worth $8,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ingredion by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,462,000 after acquiring an additional 34,189 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 1.4% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,823,000 after buying an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the third quarter worth $86,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,006,000 after acquiring an additional 2,988 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on INGR. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.20.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $131.74 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $131.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.51. The company has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, 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 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 earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.