Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. Cuts Holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,464 shares of the company’s stock after selling 310 shares during the quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Ingredion by 63.9% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Ingredion by 414.1% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Ingredion by 33.7% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 29.1% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ingredion

In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total transaction of $6,399,076.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at $11,635,601.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,333,407.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:INGR traded up $0.04 on Tuesday, hitting $114.35. 180,054 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 396,199. Ingredion Incorporated has a 1-year low of $89.54 and a 1-year high of $118.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $115.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.81.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Ingredion had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 18.57%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Ingredion’s payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $122.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Ingredion in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.67.

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.