Harvey Partners LLC Acquires 146,500 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Harvey Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,696,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 146,500 shares during the period. Orion comprises approximately 3.4% of Harvey Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Harvey Partners LLC’s holdings in Orion were worth $30,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Orion by 4.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,807,942 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $42,523,000 after purchasing an additional 77,952 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Orion by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,831 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Orion by 207.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Orion by 441.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 59,390 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 48,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in Orion by 1.9% in the second quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 48,291 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Orion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OEC opened at $19.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.41 and a beta of 1.51. Orion S.A. has a 1-year low of $14.94 and a 1-year high of $28.48.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.47 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $489.01 million. Orion had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 1.67%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.021 dividend. This is an increase from Orion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on OEC. StockNews.com lowered Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Orion from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th.

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.