William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 2,852,608 Shares of Orion S.A. $OEC

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 81.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 633,446 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,852,608 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 1.13% of Orion worth $6,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Orion in the first quarter worth approximately $377,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Orion by 30.3% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,108 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,046 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Orion by 7.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,029,867 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,316,000 after acquiring an additional 69,518 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Orion by 138.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 230,799 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,984,000 after acquiring an additional 133,826 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Orion by 37.5% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,577,197 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,015,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248,295 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Orion Stock Performance

Shares of Orion stock opened at $5.79 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.83 million, a P/E ratio of 21.43 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.28. Orion S.A. has a 12 month low of $5.23 and a 12 month high of $19.48.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $466.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $475.77 million. Orion had a net margin of 0.82% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a interim dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $0.0207 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 80.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Orion’s payout ratio is currently 29.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OEC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Orion in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho set a $6.00 price target on Orion in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lowered Orion from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $9.00 price target (down previously from $10.00) on shares of Orion in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Orion from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and a consensus price target of $7.33.

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.