Financial Counselors Inc. Takes $352,000 Position in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL)

Financial Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,400 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 11,484.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,365 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 14,241 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Stepan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $324,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Stepan by 196.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,633 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 7,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Stepan by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 176,066 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,391,000 after buying an additional 33,276 shares during the period. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Stepan Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE SCL traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $59.83. 79,568 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 125,226. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Stepan Company has a 1-year low of $44.23 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $593.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.77 million. Stepan had a net margin of 2.53% and a return on equity of 4.61%. Stepan's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. On average, equities 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 Friday, June 13th. Investors 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 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Stepan's payout ratio is 62.60%.

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.