Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Shares Sold by Equity Investment Corp

Equity Investment Corp lessened its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 944,141 shares of the company's stock after selling 34,495 shares during the quarter. Ingredion accounts for approximately 3.0% of Equity Investment Corp's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Equity Investment Corp owned 1.45% of Ingredion worth $129,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 154.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 77,890 shares of the company's stock worth $9,101,000 after purchasing an additional 47,225 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 2,629.3% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 3,821 shares of the company's stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 3,681 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion by 55.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 321,729 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,902,000 after acquiring an additional 115,147 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth approximately $528,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the first quarter worth approximately $5,301,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on INGR. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $155.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the business'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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,083,922.44. This represents a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. The trade was a 30.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,178 shares of company stock worth $4,982,857 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Trading Down 1.4 %

INGR traded down $1.99 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $138.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 840,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,991. The stock has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $100.90 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The business's 50-day moving average is $137.55 and its 200-day moving average is $126.70.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. Ingredion's revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.80 dividend. This is a positive change from Ingredion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. Ingredion's payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

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.