Russell Investments Group Ltd. Lowers Stock Position in Sensient Technologies Co. (NYSE:SXT)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Sensient Technologies Co. (NYSE:SXT – Get Rating) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,474 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Sensient Technologies were worth $977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Sensient Technologies by 5.1% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,573 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Sensient Technologies by 2.0% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,516 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. First Republic Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sensient Technologies by 2.4% during the first quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its holdings in shares of Sensient Technologies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 22,544 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sensient Technologies by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Sensient Technologies in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Sensient Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SXT opened at $72.00 on Friday. Sensient Technologies Co. has a 1-year low of $63.17 and a 1-year high of $89.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $74.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.09 and a beta of 0.89.

Sensient Technologies (NYSE:SXT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. Sensient Technologies had a return on equity of 13.76% and a net margin of 9.48%. The company had revenue of $369.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $369.87 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Sensient Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Sensient Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 8th will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 5th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Sensient Technologies’s payout ratio is 50.31%.

Sensient Technologies Profile

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Sensient Technologies Corp. engages in the manufacture of colors, flavors, and fragrances. It operates through the following segments: Flavors and Fragrances Group, Color Group, and Asia Pacific Group. The Flavors and Fragrances segment includes beverage flavors, bionutrients, savory flavors, sweet flavors, natural ingredients, and fragrance compounds and ingredients.