New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $2.16 Million Stock Holdings in Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Stepan worth $2,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Stepan by 110.6% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Stepan by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its holdings in Stepan by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 3,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Stepan by 6.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 13,532 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stepan by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 857 shares during the period. 82.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday.

Stepan Stock Performance

NYSE SCL opened at $62.76 on Friday. Stepan has a 1 year low of $59.55 and a 1 year high of $94.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.40 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.30.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $525.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $520.97 million. Stepan had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 4.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Stepan will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.385 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.68%.

About Stepan

Stepan Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells specialty and intermediate chemicals to other manufacturers for use in various end products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Surfactants, Polymers, and Specialty Products. The Surfactants segment offers surfactants that are used in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection products, including detergents for washing clothes, dishes, carpets, and floors and walls, as well as shampoos and body washes; and other applications, such as fabric softeners, germicidal quaternary compounds, disinfectants, and lubricating ingredients.