Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Shares Bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 337,292 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 31,465 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.52% of Ingredion worth $46,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 195.2% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $334,862,000 after acquiring an additional 19,560 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Ingredion by 75.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company's stock worth $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 1.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company's stock worth $99,683,000 after purchasing an additional 10,812 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 606.2% in the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the company's stock worth $5,230,000 after purchasing an additional 32,639 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $145.00 price target (down from $165.00) on shares of Ingredion in a research report on Monday. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $152.60.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE INGR traded up $2.37 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $129.88. 490,496 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 459,258. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $109.51 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The firm has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $130.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

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

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Ingredion Company 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.