Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Invests $222,000 in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 2,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centric Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,590,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ingredion by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 659,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,579,000 after buying an additional 8,159 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. Gallacher Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Ingredion by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Price Performance

Shares of INGR traded up $1.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $116.60. The company had a trading volume of 358,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 379,699. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.81. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $89.54 and a twelve month high of $118.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.24 and its 200-day moving average is $109.31.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.57% and a net margin of 7.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 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 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.67.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,333,407.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total transaction of $231,003.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock valued at $6,903,045 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.