Entropy Technologies LP Buys Shares of 5,287 Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,287 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $727,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company's stock worth $334,862,000 after purchasing an additional 19,560 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company's stock worth $260,056,000 after buying an additional 268,389 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,539,179 shares of the company's stock worth $211,529,000 after buying an additional 36,421 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company's stock worth $160,516,000 after buying an additional 19,064 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company's stock worth $99,683,000 after buying an additional 10,812 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE INGR traded down $1.55 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $126.70. 506,544 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 568,262. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $109.51 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $135.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.39.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company earned $1.65 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 2.53%. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens cut their target price on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $154.33.

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.