Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 84,863 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,285,705 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 84,863 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Ingredion worth $1,002,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,862,000 after acquiring an additional 19,560 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,056,000 after acquiring an additional 268,389 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,516,000 after acquiring an additional 19,064 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 842,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,930,000 after acquiring an additional 89,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 753,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,675,000 after acquiring an additional 28,306 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE INGR opened at $134.86 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $109.51 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $131.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.45.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued 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 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 revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

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.