Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) VP Buys $43,131.00 in Stock

Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) VP Carlos Quinones bought 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.07 per share, with a total value of $43,131.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,705.14. This trade represents a 4.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Orion Trading Up 3.2 %

NYSE:OEC opened at $13.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.24. Orion S.A. has a one year low of $12.51 and a one year high of $26.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.01. The stock has a market cap of $744.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 1.52.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.10. Orion had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 2.35%. The business had revenue of $434.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $437.03 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Orion Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.0207 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Orion’s payout ratio is currently 10.67%.

Institutional Trading of Orion

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Orion by 35.4% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,647,985 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $64,971,000 after buying an additional 954,398 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Orion by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,461,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,664,000 after buying an additional 602,080 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Orion by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,617,287 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,327,000 after buying an additional 265,184 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Orion by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,186,942 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,529,000 after buying an additional 233,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC raised its stake in Orion by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC now owns 1,922,698 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,359,000 after buying an additional 320,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on OEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Orion from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Orion from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th.

Orion Company Profile

Orion SA, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings.