Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on INGR. Stephens cut their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective 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 dropped their price target on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $155.00 price target on Ingredion in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $152.20.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR traded down $0.69 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $140.12. The stock had a trading volume of 313,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 469,007. Ingredion has a fifty-two week low of $111.54 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $132.41 and a 200-day moving average of $135.78. 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 firm has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.53. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total transaction of $325,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,345,696.72. This trade represents a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,215 shares of company stock valued at $1,687,360 in the last three months. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth about $96,012,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Ingredion by 38,341.7% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 509,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,067,000 after buying an additional 508,027 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in Ingredion by 327.2% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 531,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,101,000 after buying an additional 407,027 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Ingredion by 42.9% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,204,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,840,000 after buying an additional 361,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 1,093.5% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 365,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,445,000 after buying an additional 335,052 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.