Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Upgraded at Stephens

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) was upgraded by research analysts at Stephens to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.17.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.2 %

Ingredion stock opened at $149.41 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $140.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.19. Ingredion has a 52 week low of $104.68 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.74.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ingredion will post 10.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,454,105.94. This represents a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,197 shares of company stock valued at $9,702,315 over the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of INGR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 4.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,685,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,009,000 after buying an additional 125,543 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after buying an additional 19,560 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 92.4% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,332,000 after buying an additional 846,967 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 2.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,539,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,529,000 after buying an additional 36,421 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,516,000 after buying an additional 19,064 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.