Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Short Interest Up 33.8% in February

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,820,000 shares, a growth of 33.8% from the January 31st total of 1,360,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 533,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Ingredion Stock Up 0.1 %

INGR stock opened at $129.22 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion has a fifty-two week low of $109.51 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $132.29 and a 200-day moving average of $136.56.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its position in Ingredion by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 4,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Ingredion by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ingredion by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on INGR. UBS Group increased their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens decreased their price objective on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.20.

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.