Stepan Company $SCL Stake Lifted by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 178,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 21,870 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.79% of Stepan worth $9,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SCL. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Stepan by 60.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 2,560 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Stepan by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Stepan by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,252,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,960,000 after purchasing an additional 331,210 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,571,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $141,538,000 after purchasing an additional 10,940 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Stepan by 5.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 426,421 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,470,000 after buying an additional 23,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Stepan Price Performance

NYSE SCL opened at $45.45 on Wednesday. Stepan Company has a 12 month low of $41.82 and a 12 month high of $77.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.96 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $590.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $593.65 million. Stepan had a return on equity of 3.70% and a net margin of 1.96%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stepan Company will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.395 per share. This is an increase from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Stepan in a report on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

About Stepan

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.