Wall Street Zen Upgrades Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) to "Strong-Buy"

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised Ingevity from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ingevity from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingevity currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $52.75.

Ingevity Stock Up 3.1%

Ingevity stock traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.34. The company had a trading volume of 211,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 278,038. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.66 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.86, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm's fifty day moving average is $37.06 and its 200-day moving average is $41.74. Ingevity has a fifty-two week low of $28.49 and a fifty-two week high of $51.67.

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $284.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.13 million. Ingevity had a negative net margin of 30.60% and a positive return on equity of 41.44%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ingevity will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingevity by 119.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in shares of Ingevity by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 1,670 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Ingevity by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,007 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingevity during the 4th quarter valued at about $187,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ingevity during the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company's stock.

Ingevity Company 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.