Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 98.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 689,661 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Stepan were worth $788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake 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 valued at $107,421,000 after purchasing an additional 34,264 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stepan by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 747,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,730,000 after buying an additional 52,944 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Stepan by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 424,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,613,000 after buying an additional 17,361 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Stepan by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 325,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,324,000 after buying an additional 6,542 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in 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. 82.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stepan Stock Up 0.1 %

SCL opened at $76.09 on Friday. Stepan has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $96.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $75.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 37.85 and a beta of 0.81.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $546.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.23 million. Stepan had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Stepan will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Stepan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.385 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This is a positive change from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.