Amundi Purchases 8,592 Shares of Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP)

Amundi raised its position in shares of Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) by 194.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,018 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,592 shares during the period. Amundi owned about 0.05% of Innospec worth $1,388,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Innospec by 0.6% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,805,546 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $204,189,000 after acquiring an additional 11,231 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Innospec by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 996,281 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $112,669,000 after purchasing an additional 20,744 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Innospec by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 922,220 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $101,500,000 after purchasing an additional 14,188 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Innospec by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 677,283 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,606,000 after purchasing an additional 24,843 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Innospec during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,457,000. 96.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Innospec Trading Down 0.5 %

IOSP opened at $98.70 on Wednesday. Innospec Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.39 and a 12 month high of $133.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.51 and a beta of 1.08.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.05. Innospec had a net margin of 1.93% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The business had revenue of $466.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $447.43 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Innospec Inc. will post 6.18 EPS for the current year.

Innospec announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Innospec

In related news, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $387,788.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,079 shares in the company, valued at $2,074,160.70. The trade was a 15.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Corbin Barnes sold 598 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.06, for a total value of $61,629.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,736.06. This trade represents a 6.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,696 shares of company stock valued at $794,853 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Innospec from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th.

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.