Orion (NYSE:OEC) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.11 EPS

Orion (NYSE:OEC) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.11), Briefing.com reports. Orion had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 4.64%. The business had revenue of $502.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $506.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Orion’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis.

Orion Stock Performance

Orion stock traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.60. The stock had a trading volume of 592,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 372,312. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.62. Orion has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $28.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Orion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be issued a $0.021 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 11th. Orion’s dividend payout ratio is 4.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on OEC. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Orion from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Orion from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Orion from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Orion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

Orion Company 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.