Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Shares in Stepan Company $SCL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 9,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SCL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Stepan by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 206.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Stepan by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 9,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Stepan by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 8,936 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 553 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Stepan Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE SCL opened at $55.26 on Thursday. Stepan Company has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $68.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -89.13 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

Stepan Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SCL shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Stepan from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Stepan 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.