Isthmus Partners LLC Purchases 6,230 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Isthmus Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 140,037 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,230 shares during the quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings in Orion were worth $2,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OEC. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Orion by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 42,163 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 8,321 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Orion by 103.8% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 128,501 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after purchasing an additional 65,453 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Orion by 20.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,179,181 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $21,001,000 after buying an additional 198,182 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Orion during the third quarter valued at approximately $190,000. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Orion by 16.3% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 377,198 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,718,000 after buying an additional 52,807 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OEC has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on Orion from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Orion from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Orion Price Performance

NYSE OEC opened at $13.81 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $782.22 million, a P/E ratio of 18.41 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Orion S.A. has a 12-month low of $12.56 and a 12-month high of $26.05.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.10. Orion had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 2.35%. The firm had revenue of $434.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $437.03 million. Analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Orion Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $0.0207 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Orion’s payout ratio is currently 10.67%.

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.