Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Short Interest Down 37.2% in February

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 256,600 shares, a decrease of 37.2% from the January 31st total of 408,600 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 123,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Susan Lewis purchased 500 shares of Stepan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $63.53 per share, for a total transaction of $31,765.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,896 shares in the company, valued at $120,452.88. This represents a 35.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stepan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Stepan during the 4th quarter worth about $7,545,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its position in shares of Stepan by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 638,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,311,000 after buying an additional 108,556 shares during the period. Southernsun Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Stepan by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 383,685 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,824,000 after buying an additional 74,238 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 409.2% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 92,053 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,111,000 after acquiring an additional 73,976 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Stepan by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 921,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,634,000 after acquiring an additional 60,985 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th.

Stepan Stock Performance

NYSE:SCL opened at $57.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 25.92 and a beta of 0.84. Stepan has a 1 year low of $57.00 and a 1 year high of $94.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.84.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.33). Stepan had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 4.21%. The business had revenue of $525.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $520.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stepan will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.385 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.68%.

Stepan Company Profile

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.