Entropy Technologies LP Acquires New Stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 5,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $727,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 431.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners grew its position in Ingredion by 82.6% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR stock opened at $128.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $137.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.33. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $107.77 and a one year high of $155.44. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. This trade represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on INGR. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.33.

Ingredion Company 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.