Hudson Pacific Properties (HPP) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE:HPP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday. Zacks Investment Research currently has $38.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

According to Zacks, “Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. is a full-service, vertically integrated real estate company focused on owning, operating and acquiring office properties and media and entertainment properties in select growth markets primarily in Northern and Southern California. These markets include Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the East Bay. The Company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. “

Get Hudson Pacific Properties alerts:

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Wednesday, May 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 25th. Barclays restated a buy rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties in a report on Tuesday, April 17th. DA Davidson set a $45.00 price target on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $37.83.

HPP stock opened at $33.86 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.70. Hudson Pacific Properties has a 52 week low of $28.25 and a 52 week high of $36.06.

Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE:HPP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $174.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.65 million. Hudson Pacific Properties had a return on equity of 2.44% and a net margin of 13.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. analysts anticipate that Hudson Pacific Properties will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 19th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 18th. Hudson Pacific Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.25%.

In other Hudson Pacific Properties news, EVP Arthur X. Suazo sold 10,000 shares of Hudson Pacific Properties stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $355,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,995 shares in the company, valued at $3,659,412.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sanford Dale Shimoda sold 5,000 shares of Hudson Pacific Properties stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.96, for a total transaction of $179,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 89,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,217,628.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,213 shares of company stock valued at $2,794,149 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HPP. Piermont Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 15.7% in the first quarter. Piermont Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 9.2% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 12,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 18.1% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 16,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 2.7% in the first quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 97,771 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547 shares during the period.

About Hudson Pacific Properties

Hudson Pacific Properties is a vertically integrated real estate Company focused on acquiring, repositioning, developing and operating high-quality office and state-of-the-art studio properties in select West Coast markets. Hudson Pacific invests across the risk-return spectrum, favoring opportunities where it can employ leasing, capital investment and management expertise to create additional value.

Featured Article: Short Selling

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Hudson Pacific Properties (HPP)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

The Bulls Reign, but Let's Prepare for the Bears

Chris Johnson

Even a so-so start to earnings season hasn't fazed the bulls in what has been a pretty ho-hum week for the market.

Sure, there has been some geopolitical action as the NATO summit, presidential visit to the United Kingdom, and Helsinki summits dominated headlines, but the bluster from across the pond only served to take the focus off tariffs and trade wars, which had been churning stock prices.

Still, the bulls are in control right now – which means this is the perfect time to find out why – and look at when those bears might finally gain the upper hand.

That way, we'll be properly positioned to make some money when they do…

There's Precedent for a Bullish July

Over the last 20 years, seasonality has favored the bulls this month.

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

Chris Johnson

About the Author

Browse Chris's articles | View Chris's research services

Chris Johnson is a quant - he's obsessed with building and perfecting mathematical models that allow him to predict, with startling accuracy, the direction of the markets, entire sectors, and individual securities. For the last year, he's been researching and building a new system that lets him move swiftly in and out of the hottest stocks in the market for life-changing gains - entirely on his own terms. The results of his newly-minted Night Trader system are nothing short of amazing.

Chris also contributes to Money Morning as the Quant Analysis Specialist.

… Read full bio

6 Speculative BioHealth Analyst Stocks That Could Rally 50% to 300%

The bull market is now more than nine years old. Many investors have begun looking for new ideas and new strategies to generate income and gains, and the old strategy of buying every major market selling day has become less rewarding in 2018 versus the prior few years. It turns out that Wall Street brokerages and research shops still have many stock picks for big upside.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations each day of the week. This ends up being hundreds of analyst calls each week. Most Dow or S&P 500 stocks getting traditional analyst coverage are assigned total upside of 8% to 10% on average at this stage of the bull market.

It turns out that the biotech and biohealth sector within health care are receiving analyst coverage where the analyst is calling for upside of 50%, 100%, 200% and some even come with 300% upside price targets. There are of course zero assurances that these upside targets will ever be reached. Some of the companies are even likely to flop and hurt investors due to not living up to expectations.

Investors need to understand that biotech and biohealth stocks are almost always riskier than traditional Dow and S&P 500 stocks. After all, one bit of news on one drug candidate can make or break a company. That means the outcome is likely to lead to a boom or bust for speculators and investors. And it also means that conservative investors, retirees, funds for widows and orphans and risk-averse investors need to look elsewhere besides speculative biotech and biohealth analyst stock picks. Some of these companies even have the risk that they might not exist if circumstances don’t go their way.

Here are six biotech and biohealth stocks where one or more analyst has called for upside of 50% to 300% in speculative stocks during the middle of July.

Eidos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: EIDX) was started with an Overweight rating and a $32 price target at Barclays on July 16. JPMorgan also started the company at Overweight with a $36 target. The company had an IPO in late June, and shares have traded between $18.10 and $24.75 since pricing. The stock closed�Friday�at $20.77. Despite a 1% drop�on Friday, it closed at $21.28 for a higher price later in the week. Eidos Therapeutics is focused on developing drugs to treat diseases caused by transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis (ATTR), and its AG10 is an orally-administered small molecule designed to stabilize tetrameric TTR.

Innovative BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: INNT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $35 price target (versus an $8.08 close) at H.C. Wainwright on July 17. That represents some 300%-plus upside, but this stock was battered this last week. Innovate Bio develops medicines for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Its lead product candidate is INN-202, which has completed Phase 2b clinical trials and is targeting the treatment of celiac disease. Innovate Bio is worth only about $160 million and closed down at $6.08�on Friday�due to pressure from a capital raise.

24/7 Wall St.
How a New Gout Drug Could Lead to 100% to 200% Upside

Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLMD) was started as Outperform with a $26 price target at Raymond James on July 20, and that was versus a previous $15.02 closing price. A week earlier, on�June 13, Stifel Nicolaus initiated Galmed with a Buy rating and issued a $35 price target that would imply more than 100% upside. Galmed has been quite volatile as its 52-week range is listed at $3.61 to $27.06. It had a $322 million market cap as of�Friday. Galmed, which focuses on diseases and issues targeting the liver, closed at $15.00�on Friday. Its lead product candidate is RA101495, an injection into the tissue under the skin that has completed Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

Magenta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGTA) started as Outperform at Wedbush Securities on July 16, and the $22 target price implied upside of 64% at the time. Magenta Pharma shares closed up almost 6% at $15.00�on Friday�and Wedbush is calling for a win here based upon a rosier picture for stem cell transplants. The firm sees Magenta’s wholly owned pipeline as having multiple shots on goal in an area largely overlooked by drug developers.

Ra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RARX) was given a relook by BMO Capital Markets. Ra was started at Outperform and was assigned a $20 price target at BMO Capital Markets. Back in March, BMO Capital Markets had a $31 target, so investors need to consider this in the mix. Ra closed up 2% at $11.17�on Friday, versus a 52-week range of $4.78 to $17.90. Its market cap is $360 million.

Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $30 price target at H.C. Wainwright on July 12. This is a small $175 million market cap company at the time of the call, but the price target in this call was about 300% higher than the $7.10 closing price. Syndax has a 52-week range of $6.61 to $15.20, and its most recent closing price was $7.49. The cancer pipeline has been the focus for such large upside here, and at one point one analyst was pointing to Syndax rallying to as high as $40.

 

Disney wins: Comcast drops its bid for 21st Century Fox

Disney has won the war for 21st Century Fox.

Comcast announced Thursday that it will drop its pursuit of the 21st Century Fox assets that it was fighting over with Disney.

Comcast had bid $65 billion for Fox's movie studio, which is responsible for franchises like "Avatar" and "X-Men," along with Fox's regional sports networks and cable channels like FX and National Geographic. Disney's most recent bid was $71 billion.

The battle with Disney isn't completely over: Comcast said Thursday it will continue to pursue its bid for British broadcaster Sky, which Disney is also trying to buy through Fox. Comcast has offered $34 billion for that company.

A Comcast takeover of Sky would deprive Fox, and thus Disney, of a major direct-to-consumer platform in Europe that Iger has described as a "crown jewel" of the Fox assets.

Over the course of the bidding war, 21st Century Fox's value surged 36% as Disney, then Comcast, then Disney again bid for rights to most of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

The Murdochs will hold onto their broadcast, news and national sports programming, including Fox News, Fox Business and Fox Sports. The new company, known as "New Fox," will be headed by Lachlan Murdoch.

"I'd like to congratulate Bob Iger and the team at Disney and commend the Murdoch family and Fox for creating such a desirable and respected company," Comcast chief Brian Roberts said in a statement.

The bidding war between Iger and Roberts had become one of the most closely followed stories among Hollywood executives, given the sheer scale of the acquisition and the two men's well-known dislike for one another.

By winning the war for Fox, Disney will now have arguably the most formidable content portfolio in all of Hollywood, adding to an already impressive stable that includes Marvel, Pixar and LucasFilm.

But Sky is the other piece of the puzzle: One of Disney's top priorities is building direct-to-consumer relationships globally, so that it can compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Sky has a direct-to-consumer relationship with 23 million paying subscribers across five European countries, making it a key part of the overall Fox acquisition.

Should Sky go to Comcast, Iger would effectively cede the direct-to-consumer market in Europe to Roberts, who would then oversee the biggest pay-TV provider in the world.

Disney won the US Justice Department's approval for its acquisition of Fox assets last month. It agreed to spin off Fox's sports networks to get the government's blessing.

In an unrelated but equally consequential decision, the Justice Department last week appealed a court's approval of AT&T's purchase of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN.

That effectively drove a stake through Comcast's chances of buying Fox: Comcast's deal looks a lot more like AT&T's Time Warner purchase than Disney's Fox bid.

Somewhat Negative Press Coverage Somewhat Unlikely to Impact Global Water Resources (GWRS) Share Pri

Press coverage about Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) has been trending somewhat negative on Thursday, according to Accern. The research group identifies positive and negative news coverage by reviewing more than twenty million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Global Water Resources earned a media sentiment score of -0.01 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave headlines about the utilities provider an impact score of 45.0223623397261 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the immediate future.

Global Water Resources traded up $0.03, reaching $9.55, on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. 29 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,520. Global Water Resources has a twelve month low of $8.40 and a twelve month high of $10.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.46 million, a PE ratio of 79.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of -0.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Get Global Water Resources alerts:

Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.01. The firm had revenue of $7.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 million. Global Water Resources had a return on equity of 16.96% and a net margin of 14.70%. equities research analysts expect that Global Water Resources will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 30th. Investors of record on Monday, July 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.0236 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 13th. Global Water Resources’s payout ratio is currently 233.33%.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GWRS shares. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Global Water Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 27th. TheStreet upgraded Global Water Resources from a “d” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 9th.

In related news, Director Trevor T. Hill sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.09, for a total transaction of $77,265.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Trevor T. Hill sold 3,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.24, for a total value of $29,956.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,407 shares of company stock worth $120,729. Corporate insiders own 50.00% of the company’s stock.

Global Water Resources Company Profile

Global Water Resources, Inc, a water resource management company, owns, operates, and manages regulated water, wastewater, and recycled water utilities primarily in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. As of December 31, 2017, it served approximately 51,000 people in approximately 20,000 homes. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

$1.97 EPS Expected for Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) This Quarter

Wall Street brokerages forecast that Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) will announce $1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Five analysts have provided estimates for Illinois Tool Works’ earnings, with the highest EPS estimate coming in at $2.00 and the lowest estimate coming in at $1.95. Illinois Tool Works reported earnings of $1.66 per share during the same quarter last year, which suggests a positive year over year growth rate of 18.7%. The firm is expected to report its next quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Monday, July 23rd.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works will report full-year earnings of $7.78 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $7.70 to $7.91. For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the business will post earnings of $8.43 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $8.28 to $8.72. Zacks Investment Research’s EPS calculations are a mean average based on a survey of research firms that follow Illinois Tool Works.

Get Illinois Tool Works alerts:

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 26th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 12.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ITW shares. Zacks Investment Research raised Illinois Tool Works from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $158.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 27th. Deutsche Bank set a $152.00 target price on Illinois Tool Works and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. ValuEngine cut Illinois Tool Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 2nd. MED cut Illinois Tool Works from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $152.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Illinois Tool Works in a research note on Wednesday, June 27th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.65.

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works during the second quarter worth about $101,000. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works during the first quarter worth about $117,000. Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 88.8% during the first quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 791 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works during the first quarter worth about $130,000. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 15,135.9% during the first quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 132,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 131,380 shares in the last quarter. 77.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Illinois Tool Works traded up $0.99, reaching $142.60, on Friday, according to Marketbeat Ratings. The company had a trading volume of 29,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,555,233. The company has a market capitalization of $48.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. Illinois Tool Works has a 52 week low of $135.07 and a 52 week high of $179.07.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 29th were given a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 28th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.34%.

About Illinois Tool Works

Illinois Tool Works Inc manufactures and sells industrial products and equipment worldwide. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM; Food Equipment; Test & Measurement and Electronics; Welding; Polymers & Fluids; Construction Products; and Specialty Products. The Automotive OEM segment offers plastic and metal components, fasteners, and assemblies for automobiles, light trucks, and other industrial uses.

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Illinois Tool Works (ITW)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Innospec (IOSP) Getting Somewhat Favorable Media Coverage, Analysis Finds

Press coverage about Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) has trended somewhat positive this week, Accern reports. The research firm rates the sentiment of news coverage by analyzing more than twenty million blog and news sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Innospec earned a daily sentiment score of 0.08 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media stories about the specialty chemicals company an impact score of 46.0007935851604 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the next few days.

Innospec traded down $0.30, hitting $80.55, during trading on Thursday, according to Marketbeat.com. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 91,049. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29 and a beta of 1.06. Innospec has a twelve month low of $54.10 and a twelve month high of $82.20.

Get Innospec alerts:

Innospec (NASDAQ:IOSP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $360.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.90 million. Innospec had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 4.86%. Innospec’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. equities research analysts forecast that Innospec will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several research analysts have weighed in on IOSP shares. BidaskClub upgraded Innospec from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Johnson Rice upgraded Innospec from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 24th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Innospec from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 19th. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded Innospec from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Innospec currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $75.00.

In other news, Director Hugh Aldous sold 1,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.72, for a total transaction of $129,426.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,588,487.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Philip Curran sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.63, for a total value of $147,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,571.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,841 shares of company stock valued at $1,209,657 over the last quarter. 2.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Innospec Company Profile

Innospec Inc develops, manufactures, blends, markets, and supplies specialty chemicals for use as fuel additives, ingredients for personal care, home care, agrochemical, mining and other applications, and oilfield chemicals worldwide. It operates through four segments: Fuel Specialties, Performance Chemicals, Oilfield Services, and Octane Additives.

The Last Straw for Starbucks Will Come in 2020

Many millions of people have a preferred vendor of coffee, and with more than 27,000 locations worldwide, Starbucks�(NASDAQ:SBUX) leads the pack. So everything it does has an impact.

In this segment from�MarketFoolery, host Mac Greer and senior analysts Taylor Muckerman and Jason Moser discuss a pair of unrelated news items from the company. First, Starbucks will phase out disposable plastic straws in the next two years. Second, its former CEO asserted that the current slowdown in growth it's experiencing in China would be strictly short term. The guys weigh in on the opportunities for Starbucks in the world's most populous market, their expectations, and where they see the stock going.

A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on July 9, 2018.

Mac Greer: Guys, let's move on to Starbucks. A lot of different news here. We have outgoing executive chairman Howard Schultz saying that the recent slowdown in China would be short-lived. Starbucks also announcing that it's getting rid of plastic straws by 2020.

Jason Moser: [claps] I applaud that plastic straws move! Thank you!

Greer: That's great! We were just talking before the show, Jason, you were saying you're not a straw guy, you don't use straws.

Moser: I'm not. I'm not a straw guy. I feel like that's one of the obvious things that you could either just change, or make it out of something compostable. It's just one of those simple little fixes, I don't know why we haven't done it yet. K-Cups, same thing. How hard is it to produce a fully compostable K-Cup? I don't know! That stuff is all magic to me anyway! But I have to believe someone out there can do it, right?

Greer: You have to believe. If we can put a man on the moon ... Taylor, what do you think of the Starbucks news?

Taylor Muckerman: I wonder if straws were even big back when we put the first man on the moon. When did the first straw come out? I don't know, McDonald's, probably --

Greer: This is a bit of a digression, but when I was a kid -- there are going to be two or three listeners who will know this reference -- there were these things called Krazy straws.

Moser: Oh, yeah!

Muckerman: Oh, sure.

Greer: That would be the one exception. I would say that they should eliminate all straws but have Krazy straws.

Moser: But here's the difference, the Krazy straw is reusable! You would use it, you'd put it in the dishwasher, you'd clean it, and it's Krazy all over again!

Greer: Oh, my God! It would last a thousand years!

Moser: Exactly! I'm OK with that because you can reuse it. It's that plastic, disposable, it kills me.

Greer: I would go to Starbucks more if they had Krazy straws. Right now, I'm a Dunkin' guy.

Moser: See, Dunkin' kills me because of the Styrofoam cups.

Greer: That's a great point.

Moser: I don't understand, why can't you make that switch?

Greer: You know what Dunkin' does? They take the time to put the cream and sugar in your coffee for you. I like that. I like that extra step. Life's hard enough.

Moser: Or are you lazy?

Greer: Absolutely! That's what I mean by the extra step. I'm lazy, do it for me. Taylor, back to Starbucks. What do you think about this whole China thing, Schultz saying, "Hey, you know the China story? Not too bad, don't worry." Do you buy that?

Muckerman: Just based on the fact that it's still pretty early days for Starbucks, and they are opening stores, it seems like, every 30 minutes in China ... I'm not too sure of the consumer preferences in China. I know tea is probably a big deal over there. I don't know about coffee. But coffee wasn't big and other countries that Starbucks moved into. In Europe, you think espresso is the big deal, but Starbucks is very successful serving their full cups of coffee over there, along with all their sugary beverages. I think there's a good future there.

For me personally, I do wonder, Starbucks might become that dividend stock that you hold on to. I don't know if it's the same growth story, or even close to what we've seen over the last five to ten years, regardless of how China pans out. Even if it hits all the marks. I still think it's not going to be that stock that you see those life-changing gains anymore from.

Moser: Yeah, I tend to agree with that. I think the local risk is in play here, at least domestically. Growing that store base here in the U.S., it seems like we're pretty saturated at this point. It also does seem like mom-and-pop coffee shops are making a little bit of a comeback.

Muckerman: Yeah, it's almost like the craft brew industry here in the U.S., with all these mom-and-pop coffee shops.

Moser: That's not going to have a tremendous impact on their business, but it certainly brings into question the growth domestically. The thesis for the growth story in Starbucks over the past few years has been China. If you look at what Schultz says, I quote, he says, "I will say unequivocally that anyone who is betting against Starbucks in China is dead wrong."

Greer: Fighting words!

Moser: Yeah. He's very certain. I will say this, I don't think there's a CEO out there, at least of an American multinational company, that has done more research into the Chinese market than Howard Schultz has. I think that a lot of people that might get out there and criticize him on that statement don't know anywhere close to what he knows about the China market.

Greer: We should add that Schultz is leaving. Does that concern you?

Moser: No, not really. I think, at the end of the day, he's still going to be there to help, whether it's a formal or an informal way of making sure that Starbucks is doing well. I think a lot of what's going on right now, is unfolding, is stuff that he had already put into work. I think he got that ball rolling, helped get that ball rolling, some time ago. Kevin Johnson understands a lot about the China market as well because of his relationship with Howard Schultz. It's all to say that I don't think Schultz makes or breaks this company, but I do take his opinion seriously when he talks about things like this. A lot of what's going on right now, this strategy was already put into action before he decided to sever ties.

The fact of the matter is, if you're talking about a company like Starbucks partnering up with Alibaba and Jack Ma, Jack Ma's goal with Alibaba is to make China more of an importer, to bring more American goods into China. You could open up a tremendous distribution network there on the tea and coffee side with the Starbucks brand, the Teavana brand. A lot of opportunities there.

It's all to say, great businesses go through tough times. I think Starbucks is going through a tough time. Even if it's not that robust growth story that some were hoping for, I think it's going to be a pretty reliable investment. Certainly, the dividend is going to be there. I think it'll continue to grow. I could think of many reasons to hang on to these shares.

It's Put Up or Shut Up Time for Cryptocurrencies

What an incredible difference six months has made.

At this time last year, cryptocurrencies were about to begin one heck of a six-month run higher. When the curtain closed on 2017, the combined market value of all cryptocurrencies had soared more than 3,300% to $613 billion. Mind you, it would have taken the stock market decades to deliver similar returns.

Cryptocurrencies have made a complete 180 in 2018

But things changed in early January. After hitting an intraday high of $835 billion on Jan. 7, according to CoinMarketCap.com, cryptocurrencies began to sink...precipitously. With the exception of a few short-lived rebounds, digital currency valuations have been in retracement mode ever since. In fact, the aggregate value of virtual currencies recently hit $232 billion, which represents a 72% peak-to-trough decline, and somewhat rivals the 78% plummet in the Nasdaq�following the dot-com crash.

Image source: Getty Images.

Part of this recent selling may have to do with investors locking in massive gains. After all, some of the biggest names in the cryptocurrency space delivered mindboggling returns in 2017, including Ethereum and Ripple, which rose 9,383% and 35,564%, respectively. But there appears to be something even more pressing at hand behind this sell-off: the desire from Wall Street and investors to see tangible results.

In the cryptocurrency coming-out party that was 2017, virtual currencies regularly soared after announcing or hinting about corporate partnerships or tie-ups. For example, IOTA soared in the final two months of the year following the beta launch of its Data Marketplace, and announcing that a bevy of brand-name companies, including Microsoft, were participants providing feedback or some form of support on the project. Likewise, Ripple ascended to the heavens after announcing partnerships with American Express and Banco Santander�in November, and MoneyGram International�in January.

However, we're not seeing that same enthusiasm from investors any longer. Last month, IOTA announced partnered projects with Volkswagen, Nordic Semiconductors, and SinoPac, yet its MIOTA coin wound up shedding nearly half of its value in June. Similarly, Ripple has continued to announce new additions to RippleNet, yet has seen its XRP coin decline significantly in value.�

After one of the biggest rallies investors have ever witnessed, it's finally happened: it's officially put up or shut up time in the cryptocurrency space.

Image source: Getty Images.

It's put up or shut up time

The biggest question mark in the virtual currency space revolves around blockchain technology, which some optimists have anointed as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Blockchain is the digital, distributed, and decentralized ledger that underlies most cryptocurrencies and is responsible for processing transactions without the need for a financial intermediary, as well as logging data in a transparent and unchanging manner.

On paper, blockchain has a lot of potential in both the financial service and nonfinancial setting. It could expedite money flows from one party to another, as well as help businesses track goods in a supply chain in real time. The list of what blockchain can do is actually quite long. But what blockchain hasn't done is demonstrate that it can provide real-world benefits without any training wheels.

You see, up to this point, we've witnessed plenty of successful proof-of-concept testing done with blockchain, but we haven't seen any big businesses adopting the technology on a broad basis. That's because blockchain hasn't yet proven its ability to scale. Yet, blockchain can't prove its ability to scale if it's not given an opportunity by large businesses. We call this a Catch-22, and it's made the near term for blockchain incredibly murky.

Aside from the fact that cryptocurrencies have no traditional fundamental metrics with which to be valued on, investors have piled into virtual coins with the assumption that blockchain acceptance would be swift. However, that hasn't been the case, and it's thrown the entire thesis of owning cryptocurrencies into limbo.

Image source: Getty Images.

Don't overlook these concerns, either

To be clear, this isn't an easy fix for the developers behind virtual currencies. Proving scalability will probably take years.

Furthermore, these developers will have to convince businesses that blockchain technology is just as safe, if not safer, than existing infrastructure, which is debatable. According to a recent analysis from Carbon Black, some $1.1 billion in cryptocurrencies was stolen in a little over five months since 2018 began. Worse yet, because cryptocurrencies are mostly unregulated, there's little the Securities and Exchange Commission can do to recover stolen funds, some of which are concealed by privacy coins that obfuscate the sender and receive of funds.�

Another concern to be aware of is the growing presence of institutional investors. I know what you're probably thinking: "Doesn't the presence of financial institutions validate cryptocurrencies?" Unfortunately, the answer is no. The reason being that most institutional firms have a mixed or negative view on virtual currencies, and their entrance into the space has coincided with the precipitous decline in bitcoin futures, which were introduced in mid-December.

Investors want tangible results, and this slide in cryptocurrency valuations may not end until they get them.

MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR (MTUAY) Receives Buy Rating from DZ Bank

MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR (OTCMKTS:MTUAY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at DZ Bank in a report issued on Thursday.

MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR stock traded down $1.45 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $92.52. 8,069 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,038. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 0.51. MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR has a fifty-two week low of $70.00 and a fifty-two week high of $97.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Get MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR alerts:

MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR (OTCMKTS:MTUAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter. MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 24.67%.

MTU AERO ENGINE/ADR Company Profile

MTU Aero Engines AG, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supports commercial and military engines, modules, and components in Germany, Europe, North America, Asia, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Original Equipment Manufacturing Business; and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Business.

Cooper Companies Inc (COO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Cooper Companies Inc (NYSE:COO) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $265.40.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Cooper Companies from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, June 15th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Cooper Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 15th. Oppenheimer set a $265.00 price target on shares of Cooper Companies and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 8th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Cooper Companies from $275.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 5th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Cooper Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 28th.

Get Cooper Companies alerts:

In other Cooper Companies news, Director Allan E. Rubenstein sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.13, for a total transaction of $235,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,074,073.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Daniel G. Mcbride sold 2,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.13, for a total transaction of $504,824.11. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 28,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,676,516.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,292 shares of company stock valued at $1,220,863. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BB&T Investment Services Inc. increased its stake in Cooper Companies by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. BB&T Investment Services Inc. now owns 542 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Cooper Companies by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Cooper Companies by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,239 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Cooper Companies by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,614 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $4,946,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Cooper Companies by 94.0% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 912 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.85% of the company’s stock.

Shares of Cooper Companies stock traded up $1.86 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $238.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 281,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 464,199. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.64. Cooper Companies has a 52 week low of $216.47 and a 52 week high of $260.26.

Cooper Companies (NYSE:COO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 7th. The medical device company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $631.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $627.49 million. Cooper Companies had a net margin of 5.58% and a return on equity of 17.14%. Cooper Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. equities analysts anticipate that Cooper Companies will post 11.81 EPS for the current year.

Cooper Companies Company Profile

The Cooper Companies, Inc operates as a medical device company worldwide. It operates through CooperVision and CooperSurgical business units. The company develops, manufactures, and markets a range of contact lenses, including spherical lenses, and toric and multifocal lenses that correct near- and farsightedness, as well as addresses various complex visual defects, such as astigmatism and presbyopia.

Facebook shutters the teen app it just bought

Facebook is shutting down three apps, including a teen app called tbh, which it bought about eight months ago.

In a blog post, the social network said it would shutter the tbh, Hello and Moves apps due to "low usage." Facebook will delete user data from the apps within 90 days.

"We know some people are still using these apps and will be disappointed," the company said in a blog post late Monday. "But we need to prioritize our work so we don't spread ourselves too thin."

Facebook acquired tbh -- which stands for the popular texting acronym "to be honest" -- for an undisclosed sum last October. The app let users participate in anonymous polls and give positive feedback to friends. It initially was widely popular among teens. Over 5 million people downloaded the app in a matter of weeks.

Following the deal, tbh's four co-creators Nikita Bier, Erik Hazzard, Kyle Zaragoza, and Nicolas Ducdodon joined Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters. A company spokesperson said the team will stay on at Facebook and work on other products.

Meanwhile, Facebook (FB) launched Hello in 2015 for Android users in the US, Brazil and Nigeria. It allowed users to combine contact details on their phone with information from Facebook. Facebook said the app will shut down in "a few weeks."

In 2014, the company bought fitness app Moves, which tracks activities like walking and running. The app will be shuttered at the end of July.