Point72 Asset Management L.P. Makes New $170,000 Investment in Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Stepan by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,279,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $107,421,000 after purchasing an additional 34,264 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 747,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,730,000 after purchasing an additional 52,944 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Stepan by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 424,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,613,000 after buying an additional 17,361 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Stepan by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 374,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,908,000 after buying an additional 18,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Stepan by 2.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 325,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,324,000 after buying an additional 6,542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Stepan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCL opened at $73.53 on Friday. Stepan has a one year low of $69.78 and a one year high of $96.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.58 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.68.

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

Stepan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.385 per share. 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 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Stepan’s payout ratio is 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.