American Century Companies Inc. Sells 96,382 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 37.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 162,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 96,382 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $22,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ingredion by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion 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 directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company 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 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $134.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52-week low of $109.51 and a 52-week high of $155.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $131.59 and a 200-day moving average of $136.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.75.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.96%.

Ingredion 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.