Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 18,392 Shares of Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,310,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,392 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.06% of Stepan worth $84,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SCL. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Stepan by 110.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Stepan by 781.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Stepan by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,315 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Stepan during the fourth quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its stake in Stepan by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 4,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 837 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Susan Lewis acquired 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $63.53 per share, with a total value of $31,765.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,896 shares in the company, valued at $120,452.88. The trade was a 35.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Stepan Stock Up 7.1 %

NYSE SCL opened at $51.60 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35 and a beta of 0.97. Stepan has a fifty-two week low of $44.23 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.33. Stepan had a return on equity of 4.21% and a net margin of 2.31%. The business had revenue of $593.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.77 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Stepan’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Stepan will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.385 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Stepan’s payout ratio is presently 69.68%.

About Stepan

Stepan Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells specialty and intermediate chemicals to other manufacturers for use in various end products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Surfactants, Polymers, and Specialty Products. The Surfactants segment offers surfactants that are used in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection products, including detergents for washing clothes, dishes, carpets, and floors and walls, as well as shampoos and body washes; and other applications, such as fabric softeners, germicidal quaternary compounds, disinfectants, and lubricating ingredients.