Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 2,350 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lessened its stake in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,550 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,350 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Orion were worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Orion during the 3rd quarter worth about $190,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Orion by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,179,181 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,001,000 after purchasing an additional 198,182 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of Orion by 103.8% during the 3rd 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. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 42,163 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Finally, Roubaix Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Orion by 68.2% during the third quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC now owns 308,303 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,491,000 after buying an additional 124,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Orion Stock Performance

Shares of Orion stock opened at $17.59 on Thursday. Orion S.A. has a 12 month low of $14.94 and a 12 month high of $28.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19 and a beta of 1.48.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $463.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $489.01 million. Orion had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 1.67%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.021 dividend. This is an increase from Orion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Orion’s payout ratio is presently 15.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on OEC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Orion from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th.

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.