Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Decreases Holdings in Ingevity Co. (NYSE:NGVT)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ingevity Co. (NYSE:NGVT - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 356,269 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,402 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.98% of Ingevity worth $14,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NGVT. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of Ingevity by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the company's stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ingevity by 45.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 862 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ingevity by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,739 shares of the company's stock worth $1,004,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Ingevity by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,007 shares of the company's stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Ingevity by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 17,600 shares of the company's stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on NGVT. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ingevity from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Ingevity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.67.

Ingevity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NGVT traded down $0.64 on Friday, hitting $46.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 319,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 223,149. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.09. Ingevity Co. has a 1 year low of $30.90 and a 1 year high of $56.29. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of -3.89 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.86, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.66. Ingevity had a positive return on equity of 41.44% and a negative net margin of 30.60%. The firm had revenue of $298.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $297.40 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ingevity Co. will post 4.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingevity Profile

Ingevity Corporation manufactures and sells activated carbon products, derivative specialty chemicals, and engineered polymers in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. It operates through three segments: Performance Materials, Performance Chemicals, and Advanced Polymer Technologies.