Townsquare Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 35.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,867 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,797 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 47,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,499,000 after buying an additional 11,432 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management lifted its stake in Ingredion by 18.2% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 4,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth about $149,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Ingredion by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of INGR stock opened at $129.59 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $130.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $111.54 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The company has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders 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 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.96%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion 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 directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on INGR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $145.00 price objective (down from $165.00) on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Monday, April 7th. 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $152.60.

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.