Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Stake Boosted by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 127.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,794 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,280 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $2,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Ingredion by 653.3% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ingredion by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR opened at $140.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.78. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $111.54 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 33.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.82, for a total value of $325,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,996 shares in the company, valued at $4,345,696.72. This represents a 6.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $155.00 price target on Ingredion in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stephens decreased their price target on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.20.

Ingredion 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.