Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Oppenheimer Analyst Says

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) had its price objective upped by Oppenheimer from $147.00 to $178.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on INGR. Barclays upgraded shares of Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.00.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR stock traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $151.19. The company had a trading volume of 97,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,356. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $135.54 and its 200 day moving average is $124.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.52. Ingredion has a 12 month low of $100.01 and a 12 month high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.47. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion will post 10.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. This is a boost from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total transaction of $174,239.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,595.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,356 shares of company stock worth $3,400,709. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Ingredion by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,685,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,009,000 after buying an additional 125,543 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,332,000 after purchasing an additional 846,967 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 2.7% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,018,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,765,000 after buying an additional 27,087 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp raised its holdings in Ingredion by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 978,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,250,000 after purchasing an additional 26,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 759,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,125,000 after purchasing an additional 17,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.