Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,047 shares of the company’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Ingredion in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ingredion by 102.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.41, for a total transaction of $721,027.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,454,105.94. This represents a 13.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 directly owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,040,070.60. The trade was a 1.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,056 shares of company stock valued at $4,121,736. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR opened at $149.19 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.19. The firm has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $100.90 and a 52 week high of $155.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last issued 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. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.75% and a net margin of 9.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. Ingredion’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.6 earnings per share 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 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 2.14%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on INGR shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.00.

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.