Legal & General Group Plc Has $3.99 Million Stock Holdings in Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,586 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,344 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.27% of Stepan worth $3,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SCL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Stepan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,545,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Stepan by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 451,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,188,000 after buying an additional 54,943 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Stepan by 47.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 145,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,433,000 after buying an additional 46,846 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Stepan by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 176,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,391,000 after buying an additional 33,276 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Stepan by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 403,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,100,000 after buying an additional 29,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stepan news, Director Susan Lewis purchased 500 shares of Stepan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $63.53 per share, with a total value of $31,765.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,896 shares in the company, valued at $120,452.88. This trade represents a 35.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th.

Stepan Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of SCL stock opened at $49.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26 and a beta of 0.97. Stepan has a fifty-two week low of $44.23 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.33). Stepan had a return on equity of 4.21% and a net margin of 2.31%. The company had revenue of $525.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $520.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Stepan will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.385 dividend. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Stepan’s payout ratio is 69.68%.

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.