ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ:IOSP) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 279 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Innospec worth $4,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in 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. nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Innospec by 200.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 900 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Innospec in the second quarter valued at approximately $184,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Innospec during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Innospec during the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Innospec news, Director Milton C. Blackmore sold 1,035 shares of Innospec stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.92, for a total transaction of $127,222.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,109,721.76. The trade was a 10.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Innospec from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th.

Innospec Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IOSP opened at $114.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $114.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.69. Innospec Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.65 and a 1-year high of $133.71.

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35. Innospec had a net margin of 7.68% and a return on equity of 13.33%. The firm had revenue of $443.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Innospec Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Innospec Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Innospec’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.72. This represents a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Innospec’s payout ratio is 27.57%.

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.