Washington Capital Management Inc. Has $676,000 Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Washington Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR - Free Report) by 63.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,915 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,480 shares during the period. Washington Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Ingredion were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter valued at $58,642,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 268,389 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ingredion by 55,219.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 174,811 shares of the company's stock valued at $240,240,000 after acquiring an additional 174,495 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new position in Ingredion in the third quarter worth about $17,094,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ingredion Price Performance

INGR stock traded up $1.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $137.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 328,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,582. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $107.40 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $139.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.52.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%. Ingredion's quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $861,120.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868 over the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on INGR shares. Stephens raised shares of Ingredion to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ingredion from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ingredion from $147.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $155.17.

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.