Short Interest in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Expands By 18.6%

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 681,800 shares, an increase of 18.6% from the March 15th total of 574,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 406,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Ingredion in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ingredion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.67.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $110.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.81. Ingredion has a 1-year low of $89.54 and a 1-year high of $118.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ingredion will post 9.62 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 99,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,635,601.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045 over the last ninety days. 1.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signet Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Ingredion in the 1st quarter valued at about $476,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 197.8% during the 1st quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,493,000. Bank of New Hampshire boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 16,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 230.9% during the 1st quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 9,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.