ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC Buys Shares of 50,000 Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 50,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $890,000. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Orion at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of OEC. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Orion by 207.0% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in Orion during the second quarter worth approximately $54,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Orion during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,000. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Orion by 76.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 2,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Orion in the 2nd quarter valued at $140,000. 94.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OEC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Orion from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Orion from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

Orion Stock Performance

Orion stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $19.27. 172,457 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 447,713. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $16.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.54. Orion S.A. has a 12-month low of $14.94 and a 12-month high of $28.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.41 and a beta of 1.51.

Orion (NYSE:OEC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $463.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $489.01 million. Orion had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 18.97%. Equities research analysts predict that Orion S.A. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.021 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Orion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Orion's payout ratio is currently 15.09%.

Orion Profile

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.