Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 31.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,160 shares of the company’s stock after selling 989 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 583,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,209,000 after buying an additional 10,703 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 1st quarter worth about $646,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 156.7% in the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,499,000 after buying an additional 6,768 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Ingredion by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 26,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,644,000 after buying an additional 5,215 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR stock opened at $126.35 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $120.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $134.89 and its 200 day moving average is $133.28. The company has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.78.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. Ingredion’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on INGR. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.40.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.39, for a total transaction of $109,131.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,002,044.69. This represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.30% 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.