Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Stepan (NYSE:SCL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday.

Stepan Stock Performance

Shares of SCL stock opened at $83.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.49 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.36. Stepan has a 52 week low of $63.60 and a 52 week high of $96.96.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $551.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $575.83 million. Stepan had a net margin of 1.71% and a return on equity of 4.04%. Stepan’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Stepan will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.36%.

Institutional Trading of Stepan

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SCL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,562,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,306,000 after acquiring an additional 14,038 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,201,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $113,568,000 after acquiring an additional 31,641 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 694,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,505,000 after acquiring an additional 4,424 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 5,436.3% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 516,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,854,000 after acquiring an additional 507,371 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 323,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,592,000 after acquiring an additional 25,570 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Stepan Company Profile

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.