Bridgewater Associates LP Takes Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 27,172 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,738,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 653.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $130.79. 61,541 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 597,715. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $111.54 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $130.56 and a 200-day moving average of $135.70. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during 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 for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. Analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Ingredion's payout ratio is 32.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on INGR shares. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Ingredion from $167.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group set a $155.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $152.20.

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.