Gabelli Funds LLC Decreases Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,500 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 178.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 59,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,463,000 after acquiring an additional 38,201 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Ingredion by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth about $641,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Ingredion stock opened at $137.58 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $89.54 and a 12-month high of $137.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $130.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.65.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a boost from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.06%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $149,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,988,250. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert A. Ritchie sold 1,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $149,375.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,906 shares in the company, valued at $1,988,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,045 shares of company stock valued at $3,482,491. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. Barclays upgraded Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $122.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.33.

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.