Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $17.20 Million Stock Position in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its stake in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 312,514 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,882 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 1.39% of Stepan worth $17,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Stepan by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,560,605 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $165,671,000 after purchasing an additional 25,841 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Stepan by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,310,760 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $84,806,000 after acquiring an additional 18,392 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stepan by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 921,704 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $59,634,000 after acquiring an additional 60,985 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Stepan by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 660,048 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $42,705,000 after acquiring an additional 17,283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stepan by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 638,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $41,311,000 after buying an additional 108,556 shares in the last quarter. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Stepan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th.

Stepan Stock Performance

Stepan stock traded up $0.88 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.22. 92,044 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 124,574. Stepan Company has a fifty-two week low of $44.23 and a fifty-two week high of $91.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.84.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $593.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.77 million. Stepan had a return on equity of 4.61% and a net margin of 2.53%. The company's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Stepan Company will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.385 dividend. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Stepan's dividend payout ratio is presently 62.60%.

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.