Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $158.20.

A number of research firms have recently commented on INGR. Stephens dropped their price objective on Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

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Ingredion Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE INGR traded up $4.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $135.54. 913,740 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 593,819. The company's fifty day moving average is $132.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. Ingredion has a fifty-two week low of $109.51 and a fifty-two week high of $155.44. The stock has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ingredion will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion's payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ingredion by 653.3% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 226 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% 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.