Inspire Investing LLC Has $388,000 Stake in Stepan Company $SCL

Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 869 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Stepan were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Stepan by 45.4% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Stepan by 231.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Stepan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Stepan by 67.9% during the first quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Stepan during the second quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Stepan Stock Performance

Shares of SCL opened at $47.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.35. Stepan Company has a twelve month low of $44.23 and a twelve month high of $82.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $48.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51 and a beta of 0.96.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.40). Stepan had a net margin of 2.57% and a return on equity of 4.78%. The company had revenue of $594.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Stepan Company will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $0.385 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Stepan’s payout ratio is presently 60.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SCL shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Stepan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Stepan from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stepan presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

About Stepan

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.