North Star Investment Management Corp. Purchases New Stake in Stepan Company $SCL

North Star Investment Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 17,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $850,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. owned approximately 0.07% of Stepan as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 900,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,642,000 after acquiring an additional 205,157 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $14,207,000 after acquiring an additional 198,457 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Stepan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,620,000. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stepan by 209.1% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 160,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,674,000 after purchasing an additional 108,826 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stepan in the second quarter valued at about $5,573,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Stepan from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Stepan currently has an average rating of “Sell”.

Stepan Price Performance

NYSE:SCL opened at $54.61 on Tuesday. Stepan Company has a 52 week low of $41.82 and a 52 week high of $68.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -88.08 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $604.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.25 million. Stepan had a positive return on equity of 2.65% and a negative net margin of 0.61%.The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Stepan Company will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.395 per share. This represents a $1.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -254.84%.

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.