Orion (NYSE:OEC) Stock Rating Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) was upgraded by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, FinViz reports.

OEC has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Orion from $8.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Orion in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Orion from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Orion from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Orion in a report on Friday. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.58.

Orion Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of OEC opened at $4.03 on Tuesday. Orion has a 12-month low of $3.91 and a 12-month high of $8.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $5.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.33.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.08). Orion had a negative net margin of 1.75% and a negative return on equity of 4.09%. The business had revenue of $472.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.99 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Orion will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Orion

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Orion during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in Orion in the third quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its holdings in Orion by 52.7% in the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 18,736 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 6,465 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Orion during the second quarter worth approximately $64,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Orion by 70.6% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,235 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,753 shares during the last quarter. 94.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Orion Company Profile

Orion SA, formerly known as Orion Engineered Carbons SA, is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and sells carbon-based products. Its portfolio includes specialty carbon black, high-performance carbon black, conductive additives and other carbon materials used in a range of industrial and consumer applications.

The company’s products help provide color, conductivity, reinforcement, ultraviolet protection and other performance characteristics in products such as coatings, paints, printing inks, plastics, adhesives, sealants, batteries, tires and other rubber goods.