Brokerages Set Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) PT at $6.08

Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) has earned a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” from the five research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and two have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.0833.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on OEC. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Orion from $7.50 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Orion from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Orion in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Orion from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th.

Orion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OEC opened at $5.72 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $323.58 million, a PE ratio of -3.31 and a beta of 0.99. Orion has a twelve month low of $4.34 and a twelve month high of $8.66. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $6.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.52.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $500.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $474.43 million. Orion had a negative return on equity of 0.31% and a negative net margin of 5.28%. Equities analysts forecast that Orion will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.0207 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Orion’s dividend payout ratio is -4.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OEC. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Orion during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,638,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Orion by 80.3% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 413,968 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 184,377 shares in the last quarter. JB Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Orion in the second quarter worth $2,214,350. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Orion during the second quarter valued at $1,388,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Orion during the first quarter valued at $1,253,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

Orion Company Profile

Orion SA (NYSE: OEC) is a specialty chemicals company that develops, produces and markets carbon black. Its products are used as pigments, performance additives and conductive materials in applications including tires, rubber goods, coatings, printing inks, plastics, batteries and other industrial products.

The company supplies both specialty and high-performance carbon black products, which can provide coloration, ultraviolet protection, conductivity and reinforcement. Orion serves customers across a range of industries and operates internationally, with manufacturing and commercial activities spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Orion traces its roots to the carbon black operations formerly associated with Evonik Industries and became an independent publicly traded company in 2011.