Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Acquires 7,969 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 143.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,536 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,969 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $1,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,642,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 55,219.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 174,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,240,000 after buying an additional 174,495 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,094,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 321,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,902,000 after buying an additional 115,147 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Ingredion by 75.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,109,000 after buying an additional 83,708 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. This represents a 17.41 % 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 stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens raised Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.17.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $136.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $107.20 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $140.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. Ingredion’s revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 31.22%.

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.