Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) Upgraded to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $62.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $52.00.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ingevity currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $51.40.

Ingevity Stock Performance

Shares of Ingevity stock opened at $47.83 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.20 and a 200 day moving average of $43.57. Ingevity has a 12 month low of $36.66 and a 12 month high of $72.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -217.41 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.34. Ingevity had a positive return on equity of 20.75% and a negative net margin of 0.32%. The business had revenue of $371.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $336.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ingevity will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ingevity

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingevity by 17.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Ingevity in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,028,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in Ingevity by 134.9% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 22,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after purchasing an additional 12,763 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ingevity by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,743,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,760,000 after purchasing an additional 153,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Ingevity by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,148,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,446,000 after purchasing an additional 80,856 shares in the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ingevity Company Profile

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.