Ieq Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 32,914 Stepan Company $SCL

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 32,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,834,000. Ieq Capital LLC owned about 0.14% of Stepan as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SCL. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Stepan in the second quarter valued at approximately $192,698,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its stake in Stepan by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 947,452 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,354,000 after acquiring an additional 47,075 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Stepan by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 514,401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stepan by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 477,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,612,000 after acquiring an additional 23,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Stepan by 195.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 299,970 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,207,000 after purchasing an additional 198,457 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SCL shares. Wall Street Zen raised Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Stepan in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Stepan from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Stepan Stock Down 0.2%

SCL stock opened at $62.01 on Wednesday. Stepan Company has a 1-year low of $41.82 and a 1-year high of $68.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of -516.71 and a beta of 0.94.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $684.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.85 million. Stepan had a negative net margin of 0.11% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stepan Company will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.395 per share. This represents a $1.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Stepan’s payout ratio is currently -1,316.67%.

Stepan Profile

Stepan Company is a global manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals, primarily known for its development and production of surfactants and related specialty products. The company’s portfolio includes a wide range of ingredients used to enhance the performance of consumer and industrial formulations, such as emulsifiers, foam control agents, odor control agents, antimicrobial products and performance additives. These products are integral components in cleaning solutions, personal care items, agrochemical formulations, coatings, oilfield treatments and polymer systems.

Serving a diverse set of end-markets, Stepan’s offerings address both consumer-facing and industrial applications.