O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Buys 9,323 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 32.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 38,117 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,323 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $5,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of INGR. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Ingredion by 195.2% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,436,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,862,000 after acquiring an additional 19,560 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 75.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 194,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,109,000 after purchasing an additional 83,708 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 1.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 725,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,683,000 after purchasing an additional 10,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fractal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at $344,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingredion Price Performance

Ingredion stock opened at $135.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.71. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $109.51 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $131.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.48.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is 32.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. This represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on INGR shares. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.20.

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.