Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) Short Interest Down 10.8% in January

Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 289,000 shares, a drop of 10.8% from the January 15th total of 324,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 130,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Innospec from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th.

Innospec Price Performance

Innospec stock traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $103.46. The company had a trading volume of 249,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 125,761. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $111.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.52. The company has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.86 and a beta of 1.09. Innospec has a 12-month low of $99.49 and a 12-month high of $133.71.

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

Institutional Trading of Innospec

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IOSP. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Innospec by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 967 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Innospec by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,608 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Innospec by 5.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,103 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in shares of Innospec by 7.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,106 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.64% of the company's stock.

About Innospec

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.