Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Holdings in NewMarket Co. (NYSE:NEU)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of NewMarket Co. (NYSE:NEU) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,900 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEU. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in NewMarket by 62.7% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 229,568 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $104,463,000 after buying an additional 88,476 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in NewMarket by 4,435.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 87,350 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,678,000 after buying an additional 85,424 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NewMarket by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,923 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $326,684,000 after purchasing an additional 40,028 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of NewMarket by 334.3% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 50,027 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $22,764,000 after purchasing an additional 38,509 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NewMarket by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 105,136 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,841,000 after purchasing an additional 30,694 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.09% of the company’s stock.

NewMarket Price Performance

Shares of NewMarket stock opened at $581.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 2.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $615.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $560.82. NewMarket Co. has a one year low of $362.16 and a one year high of $650.00.

NewMarket (NYSE:NEU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $8.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. NewMarket had a return on equity of 41.33% and a net margin of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $643.35 million during the quarter.

NewMarket Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $2.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $10.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. This is a boost from NewMarket’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. NewMarket’s payout ratio is presently 24.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut NewMarket from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 4th.

About NewMarket

NewMarket Corporation, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the manufacture and sale of petroleum additives. The company offers lubricant additives for use in various vehicle and industrial applications, including engine oils, transmission fluids, off-road powertrain and hydraulic systems, gear oils, hydraulic oils, turbine oils, and other applications where metal-to-metal moving parts are utilized; engine oil additives designed for passenger cars, motorcycles, on and off-road heavy duty commercial equipment, locomotives, and engines in ocean-going vessels; driveline additives designed for products, such as transmission fluids, axle fluids, and off-road powertrain fluids; and industrial additives designed for products for industrial applications consisting of hydraulic fluids, grease, industrial gear fluids, and industrial specialty applications, such as turbine oils.