Northern Trust Corp Has $8.85 Million Stock Holdings in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 560,606 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,793 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Orion were worth $8,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OEC. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 3.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 57,672 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $984,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 35,294 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 1,954 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 25,351 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 79,177 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after buying an additional 2,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Orion by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,577 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 3,630 shares during the last quarter. 94.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on OEC shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Orion from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Orion from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 24th.

Orion Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of OEC stock opened at $11.35 on Monday. Orion S.A. has a 1 year low of $9.59 and a 1 year high of $26.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $638.66 million, a P/E ratio of 15.13 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.31). Orion had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 2.35%. The company had revenue of $477.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $486.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.0207 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Orion news, VP Carlos Quinones purchased 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.07 per share, with a total value of $43,131.00. Following the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 79,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,705.14. This represents a 4.32% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Orion

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.