Romano Brothers AND Company Sells 415 Shares of Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Romano Brothers AND Company trimmed its holdings in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 415 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company owned 0.12% of Stepan worth $1,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Stepan by 110.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stepan during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Stepan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $129,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Stepan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $161,000. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Stepan Stock Up 0.3 %

SCL stock opened at $63.77 on Friday. Stepan has a fifty-two week low of $59.70 and a fifty-two week high of $95.33. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $70.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.30.

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

Stepan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.385 dividend. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. This is an increase from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Stepan’s payout ratio is presently 76.62%.

About Stepan

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.