Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC Takes Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $963,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INGR. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 431.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in Ingredion by 82.6% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:INGR opened at $126.21 on Friday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $109.51 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The firm has a market cap of $8.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average is $134.19 and its 200-day moving average is $136.38.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Insider Activity

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,794.20. This trade represents a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 65,685 shares of company stock worth $9,414,112. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.