Renaissance Technologies LLC Buys 98,100 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 234.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 140,000 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 98,100 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Ingredion worth $19,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth approximately $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 valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Ingredion by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 note 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. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $145.00 price target (down previously from $165.00) on shares of Ingredion in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $152.60.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR stock traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $129.59. 427,913 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 458,774. The company has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $111.49 and a 12-month high of $155.44. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $130.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.82.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion's payout ratio is 32.96%.

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.