Orion (NYSE:OEC) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Orion (NYSE:OEC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Orion from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Orion in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a neutral rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Orion has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $27.80.

Orion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OEC opened at $24.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.27. Orion has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $28.48.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $468.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $421.62 million. Orion had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 5.46%. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Orion will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Orion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.021 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Orion’s payout ratio is currently 4.62%.

Institutional Trading of Orion

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Orion by 9.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Orion by 5.0% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,229 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Orion by 101.1% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,267 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Orion by 4.7% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,761 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Orion by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.

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.