Quaker Houghton $KWR Stake Cut by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS reduced its holdings in Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Quaker Houghton were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KWR. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 390.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 363 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 119.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 573.1% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 875 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KWR. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 price target on Quaker Houghton and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.75.

Quaker Houghton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KWR opened at $130.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -303.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.92. Quaker Houghton has a 52 week low of $95.91 and a 52 week high of $180.96.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $483.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $463.57 million. Quaker Houghton had a negative net margin of 0.39% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.508 dividend. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Quaker Houghton’s payout ratio is -472.09%.

About Quaker Houghton

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.