Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 5,056 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,302 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,056 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Ingredion worth $6,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 431.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 82.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR stock traded down $1.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $126.70. The company had a trading volume of 506,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 537,635. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $109.51 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $135.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.27.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion's payout ratio is currently 32.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $154.33.

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.