Panagora Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 83.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,265 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,725 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $3,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Loews Corp increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Loews Corp now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,706,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its stake in Ingredion by 230.9% in the 1st quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after buying an additional 9,577 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Ingredion by 154.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 77,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,101,000 after buying an additional 47,225 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Ingredion by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,305,000 after buying an additional 21,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in Ingredion in the 1st quarter worth $1,154,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:INGR traded up $0.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $134.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 304,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 382,979. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $89.54 and a 12 month high of $134.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $117.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.72.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.45% and a return on equity of 16.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.06%.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total value of $3,199,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.36, for a total value of $3,199,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,642.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.03, for a total transaction of $174,239.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,040,595.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,995 shares of company stock valued at $3,657,534. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on INGR. UBS Group increased their price target on Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $122.00 to $145.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.33.

Ingredion Company 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.