Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Short Interest Update

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,720,000 shares, a decrease of 16.9% from the March 15th total of 2,070,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 637,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Ingredion Price Performance

NYSE:INGR traded down $1.30 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $128.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 604,603. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. Ingredion has a 52-week low of $111.54 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The business’s 50-day moving average is $130.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. 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 2.49%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 75.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,109,000 after acquiring an additional 83,708 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ingredion by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,683,000 after buying an additional 10,812 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its position in Ingredion by 606.2% during the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,230,000 after buying an additional 32,639 shares in the last quarter. Fractal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth $344,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 13.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 305,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,030,000 after acquiring an additional 35,657 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $145.00 target price (down previously from $165.00) on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.