Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Holdings in Stepan Company $SCL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 9,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SCL. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stepan by 166.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 46,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,198,000 after purchasing an additional 29,017 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 209.1% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 160,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,674,000 after buying an additional 108,826 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Stepan during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,620,000. Numerai GP LLC raised its holdings in Stepan by 67.7% during the 3rd quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 64,721 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,087,000 after buying an additional 26,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its position in Stepan by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 900,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,642,000 after buying an additional 205,157 shares during the period. 82.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stepan Price Performance

Shares of Stepan stock opened at $55.26 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.87 and a 200 day moving average of $52.61. Stepan Company has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $68.00. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of -89.13 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.06. Stepan had a negative net margin of 0.61% and a positive return on equity of 2.65%. The business had revenue of $604.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stepan Company will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.395 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Stepan’s payout ratio is presently -254.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Stepan from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stepan presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Stepan Company Profile

Stepan Company is a global manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals, primarily known for its development and production of surfactants and related specialty products. The company’s portfolio includes a wide range of ingredients used to enhance the performance of consumer and industrial formulations, such as emulsifiers, foam control agents, odor control agents, antimicrobial products and performance additives. These products are integral components in cleaning solutions, personal care items, agrochemical formulations, coatings, oilfield treatments and polymer systems.

Serving a diverse set of end-markets, Stepan’s offerings address both consumer-facing and industrial applications.