Denali Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,300 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $383,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of OEC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 154.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,335 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 12,343 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Orion during the 1st quarter worth about $271,000. Grizzlyrock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Orion during the 4th quarter valued at about $23,586,000. Schroder Investment Management Group acquired a new position in shares of Orion in the fourth quarter valued at about $17,174,000. Finally, Jade Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Orion by 420.4% in the fourth quarter. Jade Capital Advisors LLC now owns 328,041 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,097,000 after purchasing an additional 265,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Orion Price Performance

NYSE:OEC opened at $21.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.86. Orion S.A. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $28.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 1.53.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.11). Orion had a net margin of 4.64% and a return on equity of 21.07%. The firm had revenue of $502.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $506.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Orion Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a $0.0207 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Orion’s payout ratio is 5.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on OEC. StockNews.com upgraded Orion from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Orion from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sandra Niewiem sold 8,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.21, for a total value of $201,064.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,099 shares in the company, valued at $341,336.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Sandra Niewiem sold 8,305 shares of Orion stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.21, for a total value of $201,064.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,099 shares in the company, valued at $341,336.79. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Carlos Quinones bought 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.51 per share, with a total value of $94,040.00. Following the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 69,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,638,694.02. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.