Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Issues Earnings Results

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09, Zacks reports. Ingredion had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 17.75%.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $134.79 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.94. Ingredion has a twelve month low of $107.40 and a twelve month high of $155.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.74. 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 Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 31.22%.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 6,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $861,120.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,083,922.44. The trade was a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,692 shares of company stock valued at $9,634,868. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.