Bailard Inc. Buys New Shares in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Bailard Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 18,200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Orion by 5.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,618,627 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,444,000 after purchasing an additional 89,319 shares in the last quarter. Pantechnicon Advisors LLP lifted its position in shares of Orion by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pantechnicon Advisors LLP now owns 800,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,024,000 after acquiring an additional 110,000 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Orion by 22.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,485 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,483,000 after acquiring an additional 234,888 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Group LLC grew its holdings in Orion by 18.3% in the third quarter. Renaissance Group LLC now owns 104,675 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,227,000 after purchasing an additional 16,193 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Orion by 12.4% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 31,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $661,000 after purchasing an additional 3,418 shares during the period. 94.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Orion Trading Up 0.4 %

OEC opened at $23.72 on Friday. Orion S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $28.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average is $23.35 and its 200 day moving average is $23.38.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Orion had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 5.46%. The company had revenue of $468.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $421.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Orion S.A. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Orion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be given a $0.021 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 11th. Orion’s payout ratio is currently 4.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on OEC. StockNews.com upgraded Orion from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho began coverage on Orion in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Orion from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Orion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.80.

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.