Romano Brothers AND Company Has $1.76 Million Holdings in Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Romano Brothers AND Company trimmed its position in shares of Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 415 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Stepan were worth $1,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Stepan by 110.6% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stepan in the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Stepan by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Stepan during the 2nd quarter worth $129,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Stepan during the 3rd quarter worth $161,000. Institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Stepan Price Performance

SCL stock opened at $63.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.30. Stepan has a 1 year low of $59.70 and a 1 year high of $95.33.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Stepan had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $546.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Stepan will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.385 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. This is a positive change from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Stepan 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.