Bailard Inc. Sells 2,677 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Bailard Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 46.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,048 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,677 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of INGR. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 16,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,234,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Ingredion by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,832,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,633,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 21,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,990,000 after buying an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $129.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $109.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $132.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.61.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. Stephens reduced their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.20.

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.