Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) Shares Bought by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 20.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,179,181 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 198,182 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Orion were worth $21,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OEC. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Orion by 207.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Orion during the second quarter worth $54,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Orion in the third quarter valued at $69,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Orion by 1,375.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,791 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Orion by 76.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 2,076 shares in the last quarter. 94.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on OEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Orion from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com cut Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Orion

In other news, CEO Corning F. Painter acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.69 per share, with a total value of $176,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 958,776 shares in the company, valued at $16,960,747.44. This trade represents a 1.05 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Orion Stock Up 1.8 %

Orion stock opened at $18.04 on Tuesday. Orion S.A. has a 1-year low of $14.94 and a 1-year high of $28.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.04.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.06). Orion had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The business had revenue of $463.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.01 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Orion S.A. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.021 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Orion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.09%.

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.