Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Acquires New Holdings in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 39,641 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd owned 0.07% of Orion as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of OEC. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,647,985 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $64,971,000 after purchasing an additional 954,398 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Orion during the third quarter valued at about $4,620,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Orion by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,347,138 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,556,000 after buying an additional 210,990 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Orion by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,179,181 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,001,000 after buying an additional 198,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Orion during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,992,000. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OEC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Orion from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com cut Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Orion Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Orion stock opened at $17.39 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.81 and a beta of 1.51. Orion S.A. has a 12-month low of $14.94 and a 12-month high of $28.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $463.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.01 million. Orion had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 18.97%. Analysts predict that Orion S.A. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.021 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Orion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.09%.

Orion 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.