First Trust Advisors LP Sells 13,657 Shares of Stepan Company $SCL

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 739,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 13,657 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Stepan were worth $40,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SCL. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Stepan by 45.4% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Stepan by 206.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in Stepan by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 5,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Stepan by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $699,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stepan by 231.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Stepan in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stepan currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Stepan Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of Stepan stock opened at $45.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.26 and a 200 day moving average of $50.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98 and a beta of 1.06. Stepan Company has a fifty-two week low of $41.82 and a fifty-two week high of $76.41.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.12. Stepan had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 3.70%. The firm had revenue of $590.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $593.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Stepan Company will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Stepan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.395 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $1.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.80%.

Stepan Profile

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.