Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 3,213 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) by 28.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,625 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,213 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Orion were worth $406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Orion by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,284,823 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,901,000 after purchasing an additional 171,834 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Orion by 5.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,618,627 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,444,000 after acquiring an additional 89,319 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Orion by 22.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,485 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,483,000 after acquiring an additional 234,888 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Orion by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,155,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $24,587,000 after purchasing an additional 8,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Orion by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 845,621 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,995,000 after purchasing an additional 70,021 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Orion from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Orion from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Orion from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Orion Stock Performance

Shares of OEC stock opened at $23.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.40 and a 200 day moving average of $23.44. Orion S.A. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $28.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $502.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $506.38 million. Orion had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 5.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Orion S.A. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.021 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Orion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.62%.

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.