Meeder Asset Management Inc. Acquires 1,396 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 11.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,637 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Orion were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Orion by 315.3% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 54,494 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 41,372 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Orion by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,807,942 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,523,000 after purchasing an additional 77,952 shares during the last quarter. Divisar Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Orion by 7.3% in the second quarter. Divisar Capital Management LLC now owns 805,082 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,663,000 after buying an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Orion by 20.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,179,181 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,001,000 after buying an additional 198,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Orion by 19.8% during the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 324,391 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,117,000 after buying an additional 53,559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Orion from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com lowered Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Insider Activity at Orion

In other news, CEO Corning F. Painter acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.69 per share, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Orion Price Performance

Shares of OEC stock opened at $17.94 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.24. Orion S.A. has a 52-week low of $14.94 and a 52-week high of $28.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.84 and a beta of 1.48.

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). The company had revenue of $463.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $489.01 million. Orion had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 1.67%. As a group, analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Orion’s payout ratio is presently 15.09%.

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.