Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Shares Purchased by State Street Corp

State Street Corp boosted its position in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,195,187 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,530 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 0.05% of Stepan worth $92,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its position in Stepan by 176.4% in the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 7,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 4,635 shares during the period. Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired a new stake in Stepan in the third quarter worth approximately $690,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Stepan in the third quarter worth approximately $168,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Stepan in the third quarter worth approximately $170,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Stepan by 409.2% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 92,053 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,111,000 after purchasing an additional 73,976 shares during the period. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 17th.

Stepan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCL opened at $72.72 on Tuesday. Stepan has a one year low of $69.78 and a one year high of $96.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $75.20 and a 200-day moving average of $78.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 36.18 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.38. Stepan had a return on equity of 4.56% and a net margin of 2.10%. The company had revenue of $546.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Stepan will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.385 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This is an increase from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio is 76.62%.

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.