Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 4,376 Shares of Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 129,448 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,376 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.52% of Innospec worth $14,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Innospec by 503.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 779 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Innospec by 82.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,236 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Innospec in the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,000. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Innospec in the 4th quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in Innospec by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,106 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.64% of the company’s stock.

Innospec Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IOSP opened at $103.57 on Thursday. Innospec Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.49 and a 52-week high of $133.71. The company has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.94 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Innospec news, SVP Corbin Barnes sold 598 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.06, for a total transaction of $61,629.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,051 shares in the company, valued at $829,736.06. This trade represents a 6.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Philip John Boon sold 3,754 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 20,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,074,160.70. This trade represents a 15.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,696 shares of company stock worth $794,853 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.