Amalgamated Bank Has $486,000 Stake in Stepan (NYSE:SCL)

Amalgamated Bank trimmed its stake in Stepan (NYSE:SCL) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,287 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 241 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Stepan were worth $486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Stepan by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,279,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $107,421,000 after purchasing an additional 34,264 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Stepan by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 747,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,730,000 after acquiring an additional 52,944 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its position in shares of Stepan by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 424,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,613,000 after acquiring an additional 17,361 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Stepan by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 325,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,324,000 after acquiring an additional 6,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Stepan by 51.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 211,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,741,000 after acquiring an additional 71,431 shares in the last quarter. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Stepan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday.

Stepan Price Performance

Shares of Stepan stock opened at $74.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.24. Stepan has a twelve month low of $69.78 and a twelve month high of $96.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.18 and a beta of 0.81.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.38. Stepan had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $546.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Stepan will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stepan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.385 per share. This is an increase from Stepan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Stepan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.62%.

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.