Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Stake Raised by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in Stepan (NYSE:SCL – Get Rating) by 55.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,486 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,539 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Stepan were worth $1,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCL. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC raised its holdings in Stepan by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 11,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,063,000 after buying an additional 3,608 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in Stepan by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 45,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,218,000 after acquiring an additional 8,248 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Stepan by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 21,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,052,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Stepan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $906,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Stepan by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,527,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $236,762,000 after acquiring an additional 27,858 shares in the last quarter. 76.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stepan news, VP Richard Finn Stepan sold 479 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $50,323.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 188,326 shares in the company, valued at $19,785,529.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Richard Finn Stepan sold 479 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $50,323.74. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 188,326 shares in the company, valued at $19,785,529.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director F Quinn Stepan, Jr. sold 4,132 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.12, for a total value of $434,355.84. Following the sale, the director now owns 228,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,984,704.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,766 shares of company stock worth $500,964 over the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Stepan Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of SCL stock opened at $97.15 on Wednesday. Stepan has a 12 month low of $91.64 and a 12 month high of $116.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $107.08 and a 200-day moving average of $104.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $627.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $628.18 million. Stepan had a return on equity of 13.53% and a net margin of 5.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Stepan will post 5.6 EPS for the current year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.365 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.92%.

Stepan Company Profile

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Stepan Co engages in the manufacture and sale of specialty and intermediate chemicals. It operates through the following segments: Surfactants, Polymers, and Specialty Products. The Surfactants segment offers a range of surfactant chemicals such as anionic, cationic, nonionic, and amphoteric surfactants.