Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 4,376 Shares of Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP - Free Report) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 129,448 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,376 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.52% of Innospec worth $14,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of IOSP. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Innospec by 503.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 779 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Innospec by 82.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,236 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Innospec during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Claro Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Innospec during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. 96.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Innospec news, SVP Corbin Barnes sold 2,692 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $278,083.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,051 shares of the company's stock, valued at $831,668.30. This represents a 25.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,696 shares of company stock worth $794,853 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Innospec Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:IOSP traded down $0.60 on Friday, reaching $103.41. 218,010 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 138,928. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.29. Innospec Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.49 and a 12 month high of $133.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 72.82 and a beta of 1.09.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $447.43 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Innospec Inc. will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

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.