Van ECK Associates Corp Has $22.50 Million Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,575 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,845 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.25% of Ingredion worth $22,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in Ingredion by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $334,862,000 after buying an additional 19,560 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,890,488 shares of the company's stock valued at $260,056,000 after buying an additional 268,389 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Ingredion by 2.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,539,179 shares of the company's stock valued at $211,529,000 after buying an additional 36,421 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ingredion by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,516,000 after buying an additional 19,064 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Ingredion by 1.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company's stock valued at $99,683,000 after buying an additional 10,812 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,877,794.20. This represents a 81.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE:INGR traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $125.46. 200,038 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 526,224. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $135.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.50. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $109.51 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. 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 (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Ingredion's payout ratio is 32.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their target price on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $158.20.

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.