Acadian Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 77,992 Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 77,992 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Orion as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Orion by 101.1% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,267 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Orion during the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Covestor Ltd bought a new stake in Orion in the first quarter worth about $48,000. Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new stake in Orion in the fourth quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Orion in the fourth quarter worth about $85,000. 89.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Orion Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of OEC opened at $23.48 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 1.57. Orion S.A. has a 1-year low of $12.87 and a 1-year high of $26.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.06). Orion had a return on equity of 27.96% and a net margin of 5.92%. The company had revenue of $458.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $501.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Orion S.A. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.021 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Orion

In other Orion news, CEO Corning F. Painter bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $21.59 per share, with a total value of $323,850.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 771,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,661,175.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on OEC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Orion from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Orion in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Orion from $41.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group dropped their price target on shares of Orion from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Orion has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.50.

Orion Profile

Orion SA, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for polymers, coatings, and battery electrodes.