Legal & General Group Plc Sells 483 Shares of Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 483 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Innospec were worth $7,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of IOSP. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Innospec by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 922,220 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $101,500,000 after buying an additional 14,188 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Innospec by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 692,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,184,000 after acquiring an additional 14,788 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Innospec in the 4th quarter worth $53,457,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Innospec by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 352,577 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,805,000 after buying an additional 16,055 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Innospec by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 312,880 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,436,000 after buying an additional 46,192 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Innospec from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 shares of Innospec stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,074,160.70. The trade was a 15.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Corbin Barnes sold 2,692 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $278,083.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,668.30. The trade was a 25.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,696 shares of company stock worth $794,853 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.31% of the company’s stock.

Innospec Trading Up 0.5 %

Innospec stock opened at $85.92 on Friday. Innospec Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.32 and a 12 month high of $133.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.51 and a beta of 1.03.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $466.80 million for 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Innospec Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Innospec declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Innospec Company Profile

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.