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

Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 240,500 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the April 30th total of 293,100 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 235,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Insider Activity at Innospec

In other Innospec news, Director Leslie J. Parrette sold 446 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.63, for a total transaction of $40,420.98. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $498,193.11. The trade was a 7.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Innospec

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Innospec by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,210,768 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $304,220,000 after acquiring an additional 30,031 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Innospec by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,404,825 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $227,352,000 after buying an additional 19,018 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Innospec by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,106,482 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $104,839,000 after buying an additional 184,262 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Innospec by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 692,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $76,184,000 after buying an additional 14,788 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Innospec by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 467,938 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $51,502,000 after buying an additional 4,527 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.64% of the company's stock.

Innospec Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of IOSP stock traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $86.13. 209,402 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 155,778. Innospec has a 1-year low of $80.32 and a 1-year high of $133.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $88.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 60.65 and a beta of 1.06.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.02. Innospec had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The business had revenue of $440.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $466.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Innospec will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Innospec announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Innospec Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change from Innospec's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.79. Innospec's payout ratio is currently 155.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on IOSP. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Innospec from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Innospec from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st.

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.