Wall Street Zen Downgrades Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) to Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Innospec from “strong buy” to “buy,” while MarketBeat reports an overall analyst rating of “hold.” Seaport Research Partners maintained a buy rating with a $110 price target.
• Innospec reported quarterly EPS of $1.27, beating estimates of $1.05, while revenue rose 11.8% year over year to $491.4 million, exceeding expectations.
• The stock opened at $98.72, near its 12-month high of $98.77, and institutional investors own approximately 96.64% of shares.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

IOSP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Innospec from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Seaport Research Partners reissued a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Innospec in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold".

Innospec Price Performance

NASDAQ IOSP opened at $98.72 on Friday. Innospec has a 12 month low of $65.51 and a 12 month high of $98.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $91.77 and a 200-day moving average of $82.75. The company has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.93.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.22. Innospec had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $491.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $457.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Innospec will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Innospec

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Innospec in the 2nd quarter valued at $356,596,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Innospec by 5.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,089 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $90,698,000 after purchasing an additional 66,967 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Innospec by 175.5% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 490,884 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $35,844,000 after buying an additional 312,680 shares during the period. Medina Value Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Innospec by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Medina Value Partners LLC now owns 378,769 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $28,991,000 after buying an additional 142,813 shares during the period. Finally, Western Standard LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Innospec in the second quarter valued at about $19,276,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.64% of the company's stock.

Innospec Company Profile

Innospec Inc NASDAQ: IOSP is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and supplies products used in the energy, transportation, personal care, household, agriculture and industrial markets. Its offerings are designed to improve product performance, support manufacturing processes and address specialized customer requirements.

The company operates through businesses focused on fuel specialties, performance chemicals and oilfield services. Its products include fuel additives and performance-enhancing chemicals for gasoline, diesel and other fuels, as well as ingredients and formulations used in personal care, home care, crop protection, construction, mining and other industrial applications.

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