Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 22,000 Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 22,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,097,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in Quaker Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Quaker Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Quaker Chemical by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 665 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Quaker Chemical by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 697 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in Quaker Chemical by 10,163.6% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,129 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KWR shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Quaker Chemical from $172.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Quaker Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Quaker Chemical from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Quaker Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE KWR opened at $109.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $113.88 and a 200-day moving average of $135.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.42. Quaker Chemical Co. has a 52-week low of $95.91 and a 52-week high of $197.03.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.06. Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 6.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business had revenue of $442.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $455.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Quaker Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Quaker Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th were given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 16th. Quaker Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 36.67%.

Quaker Chemical Company Profile

Quaker Chemical Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets various formulated specialty chemical products for a range of heavy industrial and manufacturing applications in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers metal removal fluids, cleaning fluids, corrosion inhibitors, metal drawing and forming fluids, die-cast mold releases, heat treatment and quenchants, metal forging fluids, hydraulic fluids, specialty greases, offshore sub-sea energy control fluids, rolling lubricants, rod and wire drawing fluids, and surface treatment chemicals.