Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Stepan (NYSE:SCL) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

SCL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Stepan from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Stepan Stock Performance

Shares of SCL stock opened at $47.02 on Monday. Stepan has a fifty-two week low of $44.23 and a fifty-two week high of $82.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $48.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.00. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51 and a beta of 0.96.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.40). Stepan had a return on equity of 4.78% and a net margin of 2.57%.The firm had revenue of $594.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $598.25 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Stepan will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a $0.385 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.63%.

Institutional Trading of Stepan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCL. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Stepan by 11,484.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 14,241 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Stepan in the 1st quarter worth approximately $273,000. Grace & White Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of Stepan by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 135,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,431,000 after acquiring an additional 13,866 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Stepan by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Stepan by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 105,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

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.