Van ECK Associates Corp Raises Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,730 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,591 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $21,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Ingredion by 21.9% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 1,403 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion during the first quarter worth about $483,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in Ingredion by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 57,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,668,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion during the first quarter worth about $1,812,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in Ingredion by 1.7% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 17,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,028,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of INGR opened at $134.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.52. The company has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.46. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1 year low of $95.07 and a 1 year high of $138.37.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 17.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.05 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is an increase from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

INGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.83.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total transaction of $174,239.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,040,595.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total transaction of $174,239.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,040,595.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,356 shares of company stock valued at $3,400,709. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.