Polaris Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Polaris Capital Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 292,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,300 shares during the quarter. Ingredion comprises about 1.9% of Polaris Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $40,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of INGR. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ingredion during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Ingredion by 431.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in Ingredion by 82.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. This trade represents a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $127.66 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $107.77 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $137.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.28. The company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.33.

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.