Orion S.A. (OEC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.02 on January 21st

Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.021 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Orion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02.

Orion has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 25.5% per year over the last three years. Orion has a payout ratio of 3.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Orion to earn $2.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.6%.

Orion Price Performance

OEC opened at $16.65 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $970.83 million, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.39. Orion has a 52 week low of $15.54 and a 52 week high of $28.48.

Orion (NYSE:OEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.18). Orion had a net margin of 4.09% and a return on equity of 19.21%. The company had revenue of $477.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $491.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Orion will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Orion news, CFO Jeffrey Glajch bought 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.16 per share, for a total transaction of $272,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,855 shares in the company, valued at $1,849,686.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Jeffrey Glajch purchased 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.16 per share, with a total value of $272,400.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,849,686.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Corning F. Painter acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.48 per share, with a total value of $349,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 948,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,584,604.48. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 47,500 shares of company stock valued at $845,225 over the last quarter. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on OEC shares. StockNews.com lowered Orion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Orion from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

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.