Inspire Investing LLC Has $388,000 Position in Stepan Company $SCL

Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 869 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Stepan were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SCL. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Stepan by 11,484.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 14,241 shares in the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. bought a new position in Stepan during the 1st quarter valued at about $273,000. Grace & White Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Stepan by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 135,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,431,000 after purchasing an additional 13,866 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Stepan by 67.9% during the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Stepan by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 105,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,731 shares during the last quarter. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stepan Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE SCL opened at $47.02 on Thursday. Stepan Company has a 1-year low of $44.23 and a 1-year high of $82.08. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.00.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $594.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Stepan Company will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Stepan from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Stepan 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.