Public Sector Pension Investment Board Sells 2,100 Shares of Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board cut its stake in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,100 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.20% of Stepan worth $3,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Stepan by 3,053.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stepan in the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Stepan during the second quarter worth approximately $59,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Stepan by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Stepan in the 2nd quarter valued at $123,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 17th.

Stepan Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of SCL stock opened at $75.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.37 and a beta of 0.82. Stepan has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $96.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.34.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $546.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.23 million. Stepan had a return on equity of 4.56% and a net margin of 2.10%. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Stepan will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.385 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This is a boost from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Stepan’s payout ratio is presently 76.62%.

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.