Invesco Ltd. Purchases 46,939 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,692,299 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 46,939 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 2.93% of Orion worth $26,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Orion by 21.1% in the 4th 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. Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC boosted its position in Orion by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC now owns 1,922,698 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $30,359,000 after buying an additional 320,157 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Orion by 12.1% in the 4th 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Orion by 0.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,301,158 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $23,178,000 after acquiring an additional 5,378 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Orion by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 960,349 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $15,164,000 after purchasing an additional 85,074 shares during the period. 94.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OEC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Orion from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Orion from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Thursday.

Orion Price Performance

Shares of OEC stock traded down $0.10 on Thursday, hitting $12.13. 140,783 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 506,929. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.03. Orion S.A. has a 52 week low of $10.50 and a 52 week high of $26.05. The firm has a market cap of $687.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Orion (NYSE:OEC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $434.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $437.03 million. Orion had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 2.35%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Orion Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.0207 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Orion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Carlos Quinones purchased 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.07 per share, for a total transaction of $43,131.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,705.14. The trade was a 4.32 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

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.