Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Given New $168.00 Price Target at Barclays

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) had its price target raised by Barclays from $145.00 to $168.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on INGR. StockNews.com downgraded Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.00.

Ingredion Stock Performance

INGR traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $151.32. 93,965 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 377,395. The company’s 50-day moving average is $135.54 and its 200 day moving average is $124.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion has a 52 week low of $100.01 and a 52 week high of $155.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 17.18%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ingredion will post 10.05 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This is an increase from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 32.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total value of $134,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,040,070.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total transaction of $49,558.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,159 shares in the company, valued at $6,967,399.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total value of $134,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,040,070.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,356 shares of company stock valued at $3,400,709. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in INGR. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,764,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,332,000 after buying an additional 846,967 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 177.8% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 396,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,491,000 after buying an additional 253,949 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 55,219.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 174,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,240,000 after purchasing an additional 174,495 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,685,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,009,000 after purchasing an additional 125,543 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 43.8% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 405,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,303,000 after purchasing an additional 123,406 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently 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.