Numerai GP LLC Acquires 25,895 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Numerai GP LLC boosted its stake in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC - Free Report) by 97.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,484 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,895 shares during the quarter. Numerai GP LLC owned about 0.09% of Orion worth $829,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Orion during the 4th quarter valued at $171,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Orion in the fourth quarter valued at $206,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Orion during the fourth quarter valued at about $211,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Orion during the fourth quarter worth about $259,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Orion by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,577 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630 shares in the last quarter. 94.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on OEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Orion from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $12.00 in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Orion from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Orion Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE OEC traded up $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.24. 121,157 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 592,451. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.40. Orion S.A. has a 12-month low of $9.59 and a 12-month high of $25.89. The firm has a market cap of $632.70 million, a P/E ratio of 14.99 and a beta of 1.20. 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 earnings results 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). Orion had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The company had revenue of $477.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $486.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Orion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be issued a $0.0207 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Orion's dividend payout ratio is 17.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Carlos Quinones purchased 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.07 per share, with a total value of $43,131.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,041,705.14. This represents a 4.32% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Orion

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.