Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) VP Buys $43,131.00 in Stock

Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) VP Carlos Quinones bought 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $13.07 per share, for a total transaction of $43,131.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,705.14. The trade was a 4.32 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Orion Stock Performance

Shares of OEC stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $12.71. The stock had a trading volume of 616,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 468,723. Orion S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $12.53 and a fifty-two week high of $26.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.07. The firm has a market cap of $719.79 million, a PE ratio of 16.94 and a beta of 1.52.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.10. Orion had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 2.35%. The company had revenue of $434.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $437.03 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Orion Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.0207 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Orion’s payout ratio is 10.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on OEC shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Orion from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Orion from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Institutional Trading of Orion

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Orion by 35.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,647,985 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $64,971,000 after acquiring an additional 954,398 shares during the last quarter. EVR Research LP acquired a new position in Orion in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,632,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Orion by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,461,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,664,000 after purchasing an additional 602,080 shares during the last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Orion during the fourth quarter worth about $8,974,000. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Orion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,464,000. 94.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Orion

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.