Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 299,800 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the November 30th total of 278,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 113,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Innospec news, Director Milton C. Blackmore sold 1,035 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.92, for a total transaction of $127,222.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,028 shares in the company, valued at $1,109,721.76. This trade represents a 10.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Innospec

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Innospec by 323.6% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,490 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $621,000 after acquiring an additional 4,194 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Innospec by 3.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 336,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,057,000 after purchasing an additional 11,479 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Innospec by 2,699.6% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 13,802 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 13,309 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Innospec by 5.2% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,103 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Innospec by 58.9% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 17,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,101,000 after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.64% of the company’s stock.

Innospec Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of IOSP opened at $110.06 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 1.09. Innospec has a 1 year low of $103.97 and a 1 year high of $133.71.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35. Innospec had a return on equity of 13.33% and a net margin of 7.68%. The company had revenue of $443.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $442.13 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Innospec will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Innospec Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Innospec’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.72. This represents a yield of 1.3%. Innospec’s payout ratio is 27.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Innospec from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th.

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.