Orion (NYSE:OEC) Raised to “Overweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Orion (NYSE:OEC) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $21.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $20.00.

Separately, StockNews.com cut Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Orion Trading Up 13.7 %

Shares of Orion stock opened at $17.82 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Orion has a 12-month low of $14.94 and a 12-month high of $28.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $16.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.26.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.06). Orion had a return on equity of 18.82% and a net margin of 1.67%. The firm had revenue of $463.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.01 million. On average, analysts forecast that Orion will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.021 per share. This is a positive change from Orion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Orion

In other news, CEO Corning F. Painter bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.69 per share, with a total value of $176,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 958,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,960,747.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Orion

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OEC. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Orion during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,620,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Orion in the third quarter valued at approximately $280,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Orion by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,647,985 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $64,971,000 after buying an additional 954,398 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Orion during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $406,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Orion by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,637 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. 94.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Orion Company Profile

Orion SA, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of carbon black products. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings.