Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Position Lowered by Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,022 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 544 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Stepan were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Stepan by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,562,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,306,000 after acquiring an additional 14,038 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Stepan by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,279,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $107,421,000 after purchasing an additional 34,264 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Stepan by 0.6% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 694,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,505,000 after purchasing an additional 4,424 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Stepan by 2.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 325,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,324,000 after purchasing an additional 6,542 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Stepan by 51.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 211,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,741,000 after purchasing an additional 71,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 28th.

Stepan Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Stepan stock opened at $78.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.11 and a beta of 0.80. Stepan has a twelve month low of $63.60 and a twelve month high of $96.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.90.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.26). Stepan had a return on equity of 3.83% and a net margin of 1.58%. The company had revenue of $556.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $581.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Stepan’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Stepan will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stepan

In other news, VP David Kabbes purchased 1,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.39 per share, for a total transaction of $75,387.84. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 1,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,387.84. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stepan 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.