ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys Shares of 3,985 Stepan Company $SCL

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,985 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SCL. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Stepan by 45.4% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Stepan by 231.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Stepan in the first quarter valued at $50,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Stepan by 67.9% in the first quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Equity Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Stepan in the first quarter valued at $273,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.70% of the company’s stock.

Stepan Stock Up 0.8%

SCL opened at $49.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36 and a beta of 0.96. Stepan Company has a 52 week low of $44.23 and a 52 week high of $82.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.50.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.40). Stepan had a net margin of 2.57% and a return on equity of 4.78%. The company had revenue of $594.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $598.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Stepan Company will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $0.385 dividend. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SCL. Zacks Research cut Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Stepan in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

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.