Dean Capital Management Grows Stock Holdings in Orion S.A. $OEC

Dean Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 50.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,749 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,415 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management owned about 0.08% of Orion worth $592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of OEC. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Orion during the 1st quarter worth $4,019,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Orion during the 1st quarter worth $3,125,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Orion by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 928,425 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $14,660,000 after purchasing an additional 229,156 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Orion in the fourth quarter valued at $3,443,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Orion in the first quarter valued at $2,723,000. 94.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Orion to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Orion from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $9.00 price target (down from $10.00) on shares of Orion in a research report on Monday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

Orion Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Orion stock opened at $10.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $589.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.91 and a beta of 1.05. Orion S.A. has a 52-week low of $9.03 and a 52-week high of $19.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $466.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $475.77 million. Orion had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 0.82%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a interim dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.0207 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 7th. This represents a yield of 80.0%. Orion’s payout ratio is currently 29.63%.

Orion 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.