ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $50.59 Million Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 368,095 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Ingredion accounts for about 2.1% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $50,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning increased its stake in Ingredion by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after buying an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 3rd quarter valued at $5,277,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Ingredion by 55.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 11,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 4,036 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 3rd quarter valued at $453,000. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Ingredion in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,582,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingredion

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,046,374.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 22,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $3,024,857.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 52,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,046,374.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James P. Zallie sold 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.58, for a total transaction of $49,558.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,967,399.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,551 shares of company stock valued at $3,550,084 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Ingredion Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of INGR opened at $135.50 on Thursday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 52 week low of $89.54 and a 52 week high of $138.37. The firm has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.52.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.34. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 17.18%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Ingredion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. This is a positive change from Ingredion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on INGR. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $126.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ingredion from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Ingredion from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ingredion presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.33.

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.