Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) CEO Sells $3,024,857.00 in Stock

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $3,024,857.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,046,374.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $134.86 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $123.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.52. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $89.54 and a 52-week high of $135.99. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.