Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday.

Oil-Dri Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of ODC opened at $43.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $632.23 million, a PE ratio of 14.00 and a beta of 0.55. Oil-Dri Co. of America has a 12-month low of $29.47 and a 12-month high of $49.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.86.

Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Oil-Dri Co. of America had a return on equity of 21.84% and a net margin of 9.92%. The company had revenue of $116.91 million during the quarter.

Oil-Dri Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Oil-Dri Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is 19.81%.

Insider Activity at Oil-Dri Co. of America

In related news, VP Christopher B. Lamson sold 3,154 shares of Oil-Dri Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $134,833.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 70,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,026,529. The trade was a 4.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy Ryan sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.78, for a total transaction of $87,738.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,942. This represents a 35.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Oil-Dri Co. of America

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ODC. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Oil-Dri Co. of America by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 445 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Oil-Dri Co. of America by 9,083.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,755 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Oil-Dri Co. of America by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,401 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Oil-Dri Co. of America by 973.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,157 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in Oil-Dri Co. of America in the third quarter worth approximately $216,000. Institutional investors own 49.01% of the company’s stock.

About Oil-Dri Co. of America

Oil-Dri Corporation of America is a manufacturer and supplier of specialty sorbent products for the pet care, animal health and nutrition, fluids purification, agricultural ingredients, sports field, industrial and automotive markets. It operates through the Business to Business Products Group and Retail and Wholesale Products Group segments.