Isthmus Partners LLC Cuts Holdings in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Isthmus Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 133,807 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 18,701 shares during the quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings in Orion were worth $2,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of OEC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Orion by 4.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,807,942 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,523,000 after buying an additional 77,952 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Orion by 1,375.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,791 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Orion by 13.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,831 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Orion by 207.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Orion by 441.1% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 59,390 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 48,415 shares in the last quarter. 94.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OEC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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.

Orion Stock Up 1.2 %

OEC opened at $18.39 on Friday. Orion S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $14.94 and a fifty-two week high of $28.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Orion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.021 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Orion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Orion’s payout ratio is presently 15.09%.

About Orion

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.