Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $155.17.

INGR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR traded down $1.77 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $147.03. The company had a trading volume of 461,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,845. The stock has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.73. Ingredion has a 12 month low of $100.90 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $139.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.31.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,046,374.20. The trade was a 30.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,878 shares of company stock worth $4,674,598. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 102.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth $33,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the second quarter worth $36,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.