Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $100.48 and last traded at $100.50, with a volume of 34,566 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $98.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on IOSP. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Innospec in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Innospec from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Innospec from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Innospec Stock Up 1.1%

The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.90.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $491.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $457.25 million. Innospec had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.22%. Innospec’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Innospec Inc. will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Innospec during the second quarter worth approximately $356,596,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Innospec by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,089 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $90,698,000 after purchasing an additional 66,967 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Innospec by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 319,633 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,467,000 after purchasing an additional 46,851 shares during the period. Western Standard LLC acquired a new position in shares of Innospec during the 2nd quarter valued at $19,276,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Innospec in the 2nd quarter worth $19,187,000. 96.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Innospec

Innospec Inc (NASDAQ: IOSP) is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets products used in the fuel, oilfield, personal care and industrial markets. The company serves customers through a portfolio of chemical additives, formulations and technical services designed to improve product performance, efficiency and reliability.

Innospec operates through businesses focused on fuel specialties, performance chemicals and oilfield services. Its fuel-related products include fuel additives for gasoline, diesel, marine and other applications, including detergents, lubricity improvers, cetane improvers and other performance-enhancing formulations.