Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) Short Interest Update

Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 383,000 shares, a decrease of 16.5% from the March 15th total of 458,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 217,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Corbin Barnes sold 598 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.06, for a total value of $61,629.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,736.06. The trade was a 6.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $387,788.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,079 shares in the company, valued at $2,074,160.70. The trade was a 15.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,696 shares of company stock worth $794,853 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Innospec

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IOSP. Vest Financial LLC purchased a new position in Innospec during the 1st quarter worth $1,931,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Innospec by 9.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 77,760 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,368,000 after acquiring an additional 6,602 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Innospec by 7,113.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 33,542 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,780,000 after acquiring an additional 33,077 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Innospec during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,931,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Innospec by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 89,018 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $9,797,000 after purchasing an additional 12,825 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.64% of the company’s stock.

Innospec Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ IOSP traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $87.05. 22,266 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 146,904. Innospec has a 1 year low of $80.32 and a 1 year high of $133.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $96.23 and a 200 day moving average of $107.58. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.22 and a beta of 1.03.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $466.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.43 million. Innospec had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 12.27%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Innospec will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Innospec declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IOSP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Innospec from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Innospec from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

About Innospec

Innospec Inc develops, manufactures, blends, markets, and supplies specialty chemicals in the United States, rest of North America, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company's Fuel Specialties segment offers a range of specialty chemical products that are used as additives in additives in diesel, jet, marine, fuel oil and other fuels.