Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Buys 29,900 Shares of Innospec Inc. $IOSP

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) by 7.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 412,310 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,900 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Innospec were worth $34,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Innospec in the second quarter worth $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Innospec by 1,159.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Innospec by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 672 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of Innospec in the 1st quarter worth about $196,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Innospec by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,170 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.64% of the company’s stock.

Innospec Price Performance

IOSP opened at $78.19 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2,606.33 and a beta of 0.93. Innospec Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.10 and a 1 year high of $117.08.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.09. Innospec had a positive return on equity of 10.28% and a negative net margin of 0.07%.The firm had revenue of $441.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Innospec Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current year.

Innospec Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th were issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a yield of 245.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 18th. Innospec’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -5,800.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Innospec from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Innospec in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Innospec from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

Insider Transactions at Innospec

In other news, Director Leslie J. Parrette acquired 340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $74.09 per share, for a total transaction of $25,190.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $432,463.33. The trade was a 6.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.