Cwm LLC Has $811,000 Stock Position in Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Cwm LLC lifted its stake in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 2.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Stepan were worth $811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SCL. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Stepan by 51.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 211,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,741,000 after acquiring an additional 71,431 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Stepan by 7.6% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 747,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,730,000 after acquiring an additional 52,944 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $107,421,000 after acquiring an additional 34,264 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Stepan in the second quarter valued at about $2,013,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Stepan by 245.7% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 27,405 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,301,000 after acquiring an additional 19,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Stepan

In other news, VP David Kabbes acquired 1,056 shares of Stepan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $71.39 per share, for a total transaction of $75,387.84. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 1,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,387.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Stepan Trading Down 0.7 %

Stepan stock opened at $75.50 on Friday. Stepan has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $96.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.35 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.64.

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

Stepan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Stepan’s payout ratio is currently 98.04%.

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.