Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Has $7.85 Million Stock Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,052 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,005 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $7,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of INGR. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake 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 buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Ingredion in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $129.22 on Thursday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $109.51 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $132.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. The firm has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens cut their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays upped their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

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.