Grace & White Inc. NY Raises Stock Holdings in Stepan Company $SCL

Grace & White Inc. NY boosted its stake in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 143,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,350 shares during the period. Stepan comprises approximately 1.4% of Grace & White Inc. NY’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Grace & White Inc. NY’s holdings in Stepan were worth $7,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Stepan by 45.4% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Stepan by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Stepan by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Stepan by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Stepan by 231.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stepan Stock Performance

Shares of Stepan stock opened at $47.23 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.35. Stepan Company has a one year low of $44.23 and a one year high of $82.08. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.96.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.40). Stepan had a return on equity of 4.78% and a net margin of 2.57%.The firm had revenue of $594.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $598.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Stepan Company will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.385 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Stepan’s payout ratio is presently 60.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SCL. Zacks Research lowered shares of Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Stepan from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Sell”.

Stepan Company Profile

Stepan Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells specialty and intermediate chemicals to other manufacturers for use in various end products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Surfactants, Polymers, and Specialty Products. The Surfactants segment offers surfactants that are used in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection products, including detergents for washing clothes, dishes, carpets, and floors and walls, as well as shampoos and body washes; and other applications, such as fabric softeners, germicidal quaternary compounds, disinfectants, and lubricating ingredients.