Stepan Company $SCL Shares Acquired by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) by 465.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 123,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 101,907 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Stepan were worth $6,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SCL. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in Stepan by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 900,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,642,000 after purchasing an additional 205,157 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Stepan by 195.5% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 299,970 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,207,000 after purchasing an additional 198,457 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stepan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,573,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Stepan by 338.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 125,004 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,963,000 after buying an additional 96,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 154,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,336,000 after buying an additional 82,825 shares during the period. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stepan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCL opened at $63.38 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $55.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.00. Stepan Company has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $68.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -528.20 and a beta of 0.95.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $684.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.85 million. Stepan had a negative net margin of 0.11% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. Stepan’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Stepan Company will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $0.395 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio is -1,316.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SCL. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Stepan from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Stepan presently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

About Stepan

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.