IVY Lane Capital Management LLC Acquires 22,000 Shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

IVY Lane Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 44.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 72,000 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,000 shares during the quarter. Ingredion makes up about 5.0% of IVY Lane Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. IVY Lane Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $7,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of INGR. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in Ingredion by 63.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Ingredion by 414.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Ingredion by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ingredion by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 484 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 4th quarter worth about $96,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ingredion

In related news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total transaction of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,333,407.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ingredion news, VP Davida Marie Gable sold 1,968 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $231,003.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,245.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Ingredion stock traded down $1.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $113.29. The stock had a trading volume of 296,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 312,414. Ingredion Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $89.54 and a fifty-two week high of $118.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $115.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.06. The company has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Ingredion Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.