Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on KWR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Quaker Houghton from $149.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.33.

Quaker Houghton Stock Up 6.7%

KWR stock opened at $133.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -309.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.47. Quaker Houghton has a 52-week low of $95.91 and a 52-week high of $168.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.89.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.14. Quaker Houghton had a negative net margin of 0.39% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. The firm had revenue of $493.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $475.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quaker Houghton

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in KWR. F m Investments LLC increased its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 0.6% in the second quarter. F m Investments LLC now owns 12,592 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,410,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 7.1% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,598 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $809,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,353 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Houghton 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.