Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) Shares Sold by Peregrine Capital Management LLC

Peregrine Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC - Free Report) by 31.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 314,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 143,845 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.54% of Orion worth $8,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OEC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Orion by 24.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 241,448 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,857,000 after acquiring an additional 47,440 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Orion by 49.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 418,087 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $6,677,000 after acquiring an additional 138,509 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Orion by 5.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 63,814 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,020,000 after acquiring an additional 3,487 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Orion during the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Orion by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,292 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 2,615 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.33% of the company's stock.

Orion Stock Performance

Shares of Orion stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 651,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 388,752. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 1.64. Orion S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $28.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Orion (NYSE:OEC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $468.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $421.62 million. Orion had a net margin of 5.46% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The business's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Orion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.021 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Orion's payout ratio is 4.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on OEC. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Orion from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Orion in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Orion from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.80.

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.