Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) Earns Neutral Rating from UBS Group

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by investment analysts at UBS Group in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $145.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $165.00. UBS Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.13% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Ingredion from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.60.

Ingredion Price Performance

Ingredion stock opened at $122.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Ingredion has a one year low of $109.51 and a one year high of $155.44. The firm has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $130.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.21.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ingredion will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of Ingredion stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 34,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,295,906.76. The trade was a 24.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingredion

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in INGR. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Ingredion by 11,870.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 163,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,580,000 after purchasing an additional 162,506 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 293.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the first quarter worth $1,123,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Ingredion by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,539,000 after buying an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at $10,181,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.