Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC Has $1 Million Position in Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP)

Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) by 41.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,850 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,009 shares during the quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC owned about 0.15% of Koppers worth $1,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 908,772 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,444,000 after buying an additional 138,603 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Koppers by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 568,787 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $20,778,000 after acquiring an additional 97,586 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Koppers by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 424,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $15,521,000 after purchasing an additional 20,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Koppers by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 201,557 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Koppers by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 184,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,978,000 after purchasing an additional 11,800 shares during the period. 92.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KOP has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Koppers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 22nd. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of Koppers in a research note on Monday, February 24th.

Koppers Trading Up 1.2 %

Koppers stock opened at $28.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $588.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 1.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.08 and a 200-day moving average of $33.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Koppers Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $27.00 and a one year high of $56.96.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $477.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $497.00 million. Koppers had a net margin of 3.55% and a return on equity of 16.71%. On average, equities analysts expect that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Koppers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. This is an increase from Koppers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Koppers’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Koppers declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 27th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 16.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Koppers Profile

Koppers Holdings Inc provides treated wood products, wood preservation chemicals, and carbon compounds in the United States, Australasia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Railroad and Utility Products and Services (RUPS), Performance Chemicals (PC), and Carbon Materials and Chemicals (CMC) segments.