Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $20.99 Million in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 190,735 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,992,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.76% of Innospec at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Innospec by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,868 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Innospec by 5.2% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,103 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Innospec by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,981 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Innospec by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $738,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Innospec by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,923 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $542,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. 96.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Innospec

In other news, SVP Corbin Barnes sold 2,692 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $278,083.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,051 shares in the company, valued at $831,668.30. The trade was a 25.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,696 shares of company stock valued at $794,853. 1.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

Innospec Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of IOSP 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $96.69 and a 200-day moving average of $107.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.51 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.05. Innospec had a return on equity of 12.27% and a net margin of 1.93%. The company had revenue of $466.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $447.43 million. Research analysts expect that Innospec Inc. will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Innospec announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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.