Orion (NYSE:OEC) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.11 EPS

Orion (NYSE:OEC) issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $502.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $506.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Orion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OEC traded down $0.64 on Friday, hitting $23.60. The company had a trading volume of 592,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 372,312. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $23.40 and a 200 day moving average of $23.44.

Orion Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.