Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) Short Interest Update

Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 458,800 shares, an increase of 52.8% from the February 28th total of 300,200 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 209,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Innospec from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday.

Innospec Stock Down 7.5 %

IOSP traded down $7.20 on Thursday, reaching $88.45. The company had a trading volume of 195,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 140,756. Innospec has a 1 year low of $88.22 and a 1 year high of $133.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of 62.29 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $103.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.11.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $466.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $447.43 million. Innospec had a return on equity of 12.27% and a net margin of 1.93%. As a group, analysts expect that Innospec will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Innospec announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Innospec

In other Innospec news, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 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 $387,788.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,074,160.70. The trade was a 15.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Corbin Barnes sold 598 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.06, for a total value of $61,629.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,736.06. The trade was a 6.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,696 shares of company stock valued at $794,853. Insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Innospec

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IOSP. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in Innospec by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,805,546 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $204,189,000 after purchasing an additional 11,231 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Innospec by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 996,281 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $112,669,000 after buying an additional 20,744 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Innospec by 1.6% during the fourth 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 increased its position in Innospec by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 692,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $76,184,000 after acquiring an additional 14,788 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Innospec during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,457,000. 96.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.