Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) Upgraded to Buy by Jefferies Financial Group

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) was upgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $62.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $52.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 26.79% from the company’s current price.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ingevity from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.40.

Ingevity Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Ingevity stock opened at $48.90 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.61. The company has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -222.27 and a beta of 1.85. Ingevity has a 12-month low of $36.66 and a 12-month high of $72.76.

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $371.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.74 million. Ingevity had a negative net margin of 0.32% and a positive return on equity of 20.75%. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ingevity will post 3.65 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ingevity

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board purchased a new stake in Ingevity during the 1st quarter valued at about $401,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in Ingevity by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 102,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Ingevity during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,028,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Ingevity by 134.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 22,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 12,763 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ingevity by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,743,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,760,000 after acquiring an additional 153,530 shares during the period. 91.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ingevity

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.