Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Short Interest Down 6.9% in September

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 884,100 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the August 31st total of 949,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 364,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total transaction of $134,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,040,070.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,046,374.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.02, for a total transaction of $134,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares in the company, valued at $7,040,070.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,045 shares of company stock valued at $3,482,491 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ingredion

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.4% during the second quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 25,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,967,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 15,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 2,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, STAR Financial Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. STAR Financial Bank now owns 3,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingredion Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of INGR stock traded down $1.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $136.01. 183,165 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 380,882. 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 stock has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.99. Ingredion has a 12-month low of $89.54 and a 12-month high of $138.37.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 8.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ingredion will post 9.95 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Ingredion’s payout ratio is presently 32.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.