Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Cuts Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. cut its position in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 247,615 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,879 shares during the quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.38% of Ingredion worth $34,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ingredion by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,862,000 after purchasing an additional 19,560 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ingredion by 16.5% in 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Ingredion by 2.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,539,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,529,000 after acquiring an additional 36,421 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ingredion by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,516,000 after acquiring an additional 19,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Ingredion by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 842,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,930,000 after acquiring an additional 89,335 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on INGR. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE INGR opened at $132.97 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $131.97 and its 200-day moving average is $136.64. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12-month low of $109.51 and a 12-month high of $155.44. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. Ingredion’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.