Allianz Asset Management GmbH Raises Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 842,763 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,335 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned about 1.29% of Ingredion worth $115,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 65,685 shares of company stock worth $9,414,112. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Price Performance

NYSE:INGR opened at $128.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $134.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.38. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $109.51 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The firm has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on INGR. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stephens cut their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.20.

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.