ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Position in Innospec Inc. $IOSP

Key Points

• ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Innospec Inc. by 14.9% in the second quarter, holding a total of 39,420 shares worth $3,315,000 after selling 6,891 shares.
• Several hedge funds have increased their positions in Innospec, notably Voya Investment Management LLC, which grew its stake by 63.2% during the first quarter.
• Innospec recently reported earnings of $1.26 per share for the quarter, surpassing analyst estimates, but noted a year-over-year revenue increase of only 1.1%.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP - Free Report) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,420 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 6,891 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.16% of Innospec worth $3,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Innospec by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 132,493 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $12,554,000 after buying an additional 3,045 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Innospec by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 77,760 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $7,368,000 after buying an additional 6,602 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Innospec by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,545 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $4,505,000 after buying an additional 10,309 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Innospec by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 327,289 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $31,011,000 after buying an additional 126,750 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Innospec by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,087,000 after buying an additional 5,178 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Innospec in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Innospec from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Innospec presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

Innospec Stock Performance

Shares of IOSP stock opened at $78.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.00 and a beta of 1.04. Innospec Inc. has a one year low of $74.10 and a one year high of $128.35. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $82.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.10.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $439.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.70 million. Innospec had a net margin of 1.08% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Innospec Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Innospec Profile

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.

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