Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $152.37 and last traded at $150.55, with a volume of 150647 shares. The stock had previously closed at $134.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on INGR shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Ingredion from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company 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 boosted their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingredion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.83.

Ingredion Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.46.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 17.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 10.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total value of $49,558.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,159 shares in the company, valued at $6,967,399.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total transaction of $49,558.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,967,399.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,046,374.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,356 shares of company stock valued at $3,400,709 over the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ingredion by 102.6% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.