Insider Selling: NPK International (NYSE:NPKI) VP Sells 8,325 Shares of Stock

NPK International Inc. (NYSE:NPKI) VP Lori Briggs sold 8,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.75, for a total transaction of $122,793.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 247,165 shares in the company, valued at $3,645,683.75. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Lori Briggs also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 2nd, Lori Briggs sold 10,446 shares of NPK International stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.58, for a total transaction of $152,302.68.

NPK International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NPKI traded down $0.06 on Tuesday, hitting $14.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,227,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,607. NPK International Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.15 and a 12-month high of $16.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.00 and a 200-day moving average of $13.91.

NPK International (NYSE:NPKI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.01. NPK International had a net margin of 13.71% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $75.07 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that NPK International Inc. will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NPK International

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in NPK International by 4.0% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 22,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 869 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in NPK International by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in NPK International by 6.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in NPK International by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 24,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in NPK International by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 45,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NPK International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of NPK International in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NPK International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.17.

About NPK International

NPK International, Inc (NYSE: NPKI) is a specialty chemical distributor supplying a broad range of industrial and performance materials across diverse end-markets. Its product portfolio includes acetic acid and derivatives, alcohols, ketones, esters, glycol ethers, glycols, specialty solvents, select inorganic chemicals and crop-protection intermediates. These materials serve industries such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, oil and gas, personal care, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and water treatment.

The company places a strong emphasis on supply-chain security and technical service, maintaining warehousing, logistics support and laboratory capabilities at its regional distribution centers.