Vestcor Inc Makes New Investment in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Ingredion from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $158.20.

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Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $131.74. 511,317 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 421,451. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $131.55 and a 200-day moving average of $136.54. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $109.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The firm has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75. 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 announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for 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 was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.