Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 190,735 Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 190,735 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,992,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new position in shares of Innospec in the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Innospec by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,554 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,033,000 after buying an additional 3,578 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Innospec by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 55,702 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,131,000 after buying an additional 3,696 shares during the last quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Innospec by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC now owns 49,135 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,408,000 after acquiring an additional 2,900 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of Innospec during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,242,000. 96.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Innospec from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Innospec Stock Performance

Shares of IOSP stock opened at $85.92 on Friday. Innospec Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.32 and a 52 week high of $133.71. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.78.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $466.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.43 million. Innospec had a return on equity of 12.27% and a net margin of 1.93%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Innospec Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current year.

Innospec declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $387,788.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,074,160.70. This represents a 15.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Milton C. Blackmore sold 652 shares of Innospec stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $67,351.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $865,240.80. This trade represents a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,696 shares of company stock worth $794,853 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

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.