CenterBook Partners LP Grows Position in Orion S.A. $OEC

CenterBook Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 36.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 402,716 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 108,623 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Orion were worth $3,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harvey Partners LLC lifted its position in Orion by 15.5% during the second quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,424,995 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,438,000 after purchasing an additional 325,995 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Orion by 5.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,000,241 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $20,983,000 after acquiring an additional 110,324 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Orion by 12.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,894,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $14,359,000 after purchasing an additional 213,339 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,805,927 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $18,944,000 after acquiring an additional 91,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Orion by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 717,902 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,442,000 after acquiring an additional 130,959 shares during the period. 94.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on OEC. Zacks Research raised Orion from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Orion in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Orion from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Orion from $4.50 to $5.25 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Orion from $9.00 to $5.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $5.58.

Orion Stock Performance

NYSE:OEC opened at $6.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.90. The stock has a market cap of $364.69 million, a P/E ratio of -5.15 and a beta of 1.06. Orion S.A. has a twelve month low of $4.34 and a twelve month high of $16.63.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.26). Orion had a positive return on equity of 6.30% and a negative net margin of 3.88%.The company had revenue of $411.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.79 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Key Orion News

Here are the key news stories impacting Orion this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue beat and management’s operational/cash?flow commentary: Q4 revenue of $411.7M topped consensus and the company highlighted strong cash?flow generation and operational execution on the earnings call — a constructive signal for near?term cash conversion and working capital management. Orion SA (OEC) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Elevated trading volume and attention — intraday volume was roughly three times average, suggesting higher investor interest and potential short-term volatility as the market digests the mixed print and analyst moves.
• Negative Sentiment: Wider-than-expected EPS loss: the company reported a ($0.34) loss per share, missing the consensus (~($0.08)), which pressures near-term profitability expectations. Orion Engineered Carbons posts larger Q4 loss
• Negative Sentiment: Full?year sales decline and weak end?markets: 2025 sales fell ~4% YoY (price down ~7% partially offset by volume), with continued softness in industrial end?markets and pricing pressure from lower oil and imports — factors that may limit near?term revenue recovery. Orion S.A. Reports Full Year 2025 and Fourth Quarter Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst action remains cautious: Mizuho raised its price target from $4.50 to $5.25 but kept an “underperform” rating — the target is still below the current share price and reinforces downside expectations among some sell?side analysts. OEC price target raised at Mizuho
• Negative Sentiment: Balance?sheet and margin concerns persist: the company still shows leverage and negative net margins, which could constrain investor enthusiasm until profitability stabilizes and leverage improves (ongoing risk for longer?term holders).

Orion Company Profile

Orion Engineered Carbons SA, operating as Orion (NYSE: OEC), is a global producer of carbon black, a critical performance additive used to enhance the strength, durability and conductivity of various materials. The company’s products chiefly serve the tire and rubber industry, where carbon black imparts wear resistance and longevity, as well as the plastics, coatings, inks and battery components markets, where specialty grades deliver tailored conductivity and color properties.

Orion’s product portfolio is organized into two core segments: Rubber and Specialty and Chemical Specialties.