Orion (NYSE:OEC) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at UBS Group

Orion (NYSE:OEC) was downgraded by equities researchers at UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $7.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $12.00. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 21.53% from the company’s previous close.

OEC has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective (down previously from $10.00) on shares of Orion in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Mizuho set a $7.00 price objective on shares of Orion in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Orion from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Orion in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus target price of $7.67.

Orion Stock Down 6.5%

OEC stock opened at $5.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Orion has a 1 year low of $5.23 and a 1 year high of $19.48. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.33. The firm has a market cap of $323.42 million, a PE ratio of 21.33 and a beta of 1.02.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.04). Orion had a net margin of 0.82% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The business had revenue of $466.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $475.77 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Orion will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Orion by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,577,197 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248,295 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Orion by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,638,320 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,113,000 after purchasing an additional 21,033 shares during the period. Harvey Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Orion by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,424,995 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,438,000 after purchasing an additional 325,995 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Orion by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,000,241 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $20,983,000 after purchasing an additional 110,324 shares during the period. Finally, Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Orion by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC now owns 1,946,739 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,171,000 after purchasing an additional 24,041 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

About Orion

Orion SA, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of 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 batteries, polymers, and coatings.