Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Stock Position in Stepan Company $SCL

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,950 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,696 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.21% of Stepan worth $2,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Stepan by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,571,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $141,538,000 after buying an additional 10,940 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Stepan by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,252,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,960,000 after purchasing an additional 331,210 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Stepan by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 494,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,197,000 after purchasing an additional 43,006 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Stepan by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 426,421 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,470,000 after purchasing an additional 23,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Stepan by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 280,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,454,000 after purchasing an additional 3,368 shares in the last quarter. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on SCL. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Sell”.

Stepan Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE SCL opened at $47.73 on Thursday. Stepan Company has a 12 month low of $44.23 and a 12 month high of $82.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.82 and a 200-day moving average of $52.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79 and a beta of 0.96.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.40). Stepan had a net margin of 2.57% and a return on equity of 4.78%. The company had revenue of $594.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $598.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Stepan Company will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.385 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio is 60.63%.

Stepan Profile

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.