Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Sells 54,842 Shares of Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC - Free Report) by 63.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 54,842 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.06% of Orion worth $574,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Orion by 207.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Orion during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Orion in the third quarter worth approximately $69,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Orion by 1,375.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,791 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Orion by 76.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 2,076 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.33% of the company's stock.

Orion Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of OEC traded down $0.27 on Tuesday, hitting $17.55. 986,859 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 444,086. 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 S.A. has a one year low of $14.94 and a one year high of $28.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.62 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.22.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.06). Orion had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 18.82%. The company had revenue of $463.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $489.01 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Orion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.021 dividend. This is an increase from Orion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Orion's payout ratio is currently 15.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Orion news, CEO Corning F. Painter bought 10,000 shares of Orion stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.69 per share, for a total transaction of $176,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 958,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,960,747.44. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on OEC. 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. upgraded Orion from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday.

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.