Orion (NYSE:OEC) Stock Passes Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.86 and traded as low as $15.04. Orion shares last traded at $15.24, with a volume of 464,298 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on OEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Orion from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th.

Orion Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $16.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.09. The company has a market cap of $847.91 million, a P/E ratio of 27.72 and a beta of 1.53.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $463.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $489.01 million. Orion had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 18.97%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Orion S.A. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OEC. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Orion in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Orion in the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Orion in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd lifted its holdings in Orion by 1,578.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 4,415 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 4,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Orion by 76.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 2,076 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Orion Company Profile

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.