Insider Selling: Sensient Technologies Co. (NYSE:SXT) Director Sells 600 Shares of Stock

Sensient Technologies Co. (NYSE:SXT - Get Free Report) Director Essie Whitelaw sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.84, for a total value of $45,504.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,826 shares in the company, valued at $1,655,283.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Sensient Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SXT traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.08. 168,468 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 214,498. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16 and a beta of 0.76. Sensient Technologies Co. has a 52 week low of $52.90 and a 52 week high of $78.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $70.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.91.

Sensient Technologies (NYSE:SXT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $349.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $371.10 million. Sensient Technologies had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 6.16%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Sensient Technologies Co. will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Sensient Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Sensient Technologies's payout ratio is 76.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Sensient Technologies from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sensient Technologies

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Sensient Technologies by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,688,101 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $111,617,000 after acquiring an additional 303,612 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Sensient Technologies by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 217,644 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $12,728,000 after acquiring an additional 26,969 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Sensient Technologies by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 24,492 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,433,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Sensient Technologies by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 140,716 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,082,000 after acquiring an additional 10,225 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new stake in Sensient Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,054,000. 90.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Sensient Technologies

Sensient Technologies Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets colors, flavors, and other specialty ingredients in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and Africa. The company offers flavor-delivery systems, and compounded and blended products; ingredient products, such as essential oils, natural and synthetic flavors, and natural extracts; and chili powder, paprika, and chili pepper, as well as dehydrated vegetables comprising parsley, celery, and spinach to the food, beverage, and personal care industries.

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