Stepan (NYSE:SCL) Announces $0.39 Quarterly Dividend

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.385 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd.

Stepan has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 57 years. Stepan has a payout ratio of 32.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Stepan to earn $4.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.54 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.2%.

Stepan Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of SCL stock opened at $63.94 on Friday. Stepan has a fifty-two week low of $59.55 and a fifty-two week high of $94.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.39. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.93 and a beta of 0.84.

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $525.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $520.97 million. Stepan had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 4.21%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Stepan will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Stepan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Stepan Company Profile

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.