WCM Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 81.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,010 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,802 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of INGR. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 222.6% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,629 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the third quarter worth $453,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in Ingredion by 55.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 11,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 4,036 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,277,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on INGR. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective 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. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.33.

Insider Activity

In other Ingredion news, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $861,120.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,083,922.44. This trade represents a 17.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 60,992 shares of company stock worth $8,913,841. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of INGR opened at $127.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. Ingredion Incorporated has a one year low of $107.77 and a one year high of $155.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $137.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.28. The company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during 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 business’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 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 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.