Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Takes $377,000 Position in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 29,160 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $377,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned about 0.05% of Orion as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Orion by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,461,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $54,664,000 after acquiring an additional 602,080 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Orion by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,617,287 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,327,000 after purchasing an additional 265,184 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Orion by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,186,942 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $34,529,000 after purchasing an additional 233,342 shares in the last quarter. Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Orion by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC now owns 1,922,698 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $30,359,000 after acquiring an additional 320,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Orion by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,747,183 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $27,588,000 after acquiring an additional 188,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on OEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Orion from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $12.00 in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Orion from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

Orion Stock Performance

NYSE:OEC traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $11.25. 200,977 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 567,295. The stock has a market capitalization of $633.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46 and a beta of 1.07. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $11.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.14. Orion S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $9.59 and a fifty-two week high of $24.85.

Orion (NYSE:OEC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.31). The company had revenue of $477.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $486.06 million. Orion had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 17.66%. Orion's revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a interim dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.0207 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. Orion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.39%.

Orion Company 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.