Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $314,000 Investment in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Ingredion during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 431.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in Ingredion by 82.6% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the third quarter worth about $86,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,454,105.94. The trade was a 13.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 65,692 shares of company stock worth $9,634,868. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR opened at $135.60 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $140.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.75. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $107.37 and a 1-year high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. Ingredion’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. Barclays upped their target price on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.17.

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.