Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) saw a large increase in short interest during 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. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 406,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the business’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 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Ingredion by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 1.2% in the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 29.1% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Pflug Koory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 12,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 33.7% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 484 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

INGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.67.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE INGR opened at $110.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $114.73 and a 200-day moving average of $106.83. Ingredion has a 52-week low of $89.54 and a 52-week high of $118.83.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ingredion will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

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.