Invesco Ltd. Buys 46,939 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,692,299 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 46,939 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Orion were worth $26,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Orion by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,039 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,383 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Orion by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 27,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 8,969 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Orion by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 322,380 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,090,000 after purchasing an additional 62,948 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Orion during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Orion by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 717,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,327,000 after buying an additional 110,911 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on OEC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Orion from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Orion from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

Orion Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE OEC opened at $11.89 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $673.79 million, a PE ratio of 15.86 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $13.15 and its 200 day moving average is $15.13. Orion S.A. has a twelve month low of $10.50 and a twelve month high of $26.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $434.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $437.03 million. Orion had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 20.94%. Research analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Orion Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $0.0207 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carlos Quinones purchased 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.07 per share, for a total transaction of $43,131.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 79,702 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,705.14. This represents a 4.32 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

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.