Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Buys 8,440 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 145.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,241 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,440 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Ingredion were worth $1,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at $244,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,889 shares of the company's stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 463.6% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 18,600 shares of the company's stock worth $2,559,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 5,075 shares of the company's stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Stock Down 0.6 %

Ingredion stock traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $127.88. 491,126 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 541,697. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $107.91 and a 1-year high of $155.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $136.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.39.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion's payout ratio is presently 32.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens lowered their price objective on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $154.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,992 shares of company stock valued at $8,913,841 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.