Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.29 EPS

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.29, Briefing.com reports. Stepan had a net margin of 1.73% and a return on equity of 4.20%. The business had revenue of $551.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $575.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Stepan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCL opened at $82.88 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a PE ratio of 47.36 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Stepan has a 1-year low of $63.60 and a 1-year high of $100.61.

Stepan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Stepan’s payout ratio is 85.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director F Quinn Stepan, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $455,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 255,567 shares in the company, valued at $23,274,486.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director F Quinn Stepan, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Stepan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $455,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 255,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,274,486.69. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director F Quinn Stepan, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.43, for a total value of $174,860.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 250,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,916,602.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,637 shares of company stock worth $957,940. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised Stepan from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th.

About Stepan

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.