Sapience Investments LLC Sells 15,527 Shares of Ingevity Co. (NYSE:NGVT)

Sapience Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ingevity Co. (NYSE:NGVT) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 84,529 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,527 shares during the period. Ingevity makes up about 2.0% of Sapience Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Sapience Investments LLC’s holdings in Ingevity were worth $3,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ingevity during the 4th quarter worth $17,515,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ingevity by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,457,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,388,000 after purchasing an additional 398,800 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Ingevity by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,142,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,561,000 after purchasing an additional 208,921 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Ingevity by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 928,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,825,000 after purchasing an additional 177,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Ingevity during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,882,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Ingevity Stock Performance

Shares of NGVT opened at $43.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.86. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of -3.64 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.16. Ingevity Co. has a 12-month low of $28.49 and a 12-month high of $55.01.

Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $284.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.13 million. Ingevity had a negative net margin of 30.60% and a positive return on equity of 41.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ingevity Co. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on NGVT. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ingevity from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ingevity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ingevity from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.75.

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.