Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $103.68 Million Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 753,680 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 28,306 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.16% of Ingredion worth $103,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Ingredion by 431.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in Ingredion by 82.6% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report 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. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, Stephens lowered their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,685 shares of company stock worth $9,414,112 over the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock traded up $1.71 during trading on Friday, hitting $128.07. 695,239 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 553,166. The company has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $134.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.38. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $109.51 and a twelve month high of $155.44. 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 data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.