Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Stock Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,196,295 shares of the company's stock after selling 342,884 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.84% of Ingredion worth $164,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 653.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR traded up $5.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $128.29. 1,035,261 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 458,408. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $109.51 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $130.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors 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 2.49%. Ingredion's payout ratio is presently 32.96%.

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.