M Leroy Ball Sells 2,659 Shares of Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Stock

Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) CEO M Leroy Ball sold 2,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $113,140.45. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 444,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,896,284.80. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

M Leroy Ball also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 17th, M Leroy Ball sold 2,489 shares of Koppers stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.91, for a total transaction of $94,357.99.

Koppers Price Performance

NYSE KOP opened at $40.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.94. Koppers Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.00 and a 52-week high of $46.40. The company has a market cap of $781.39 million, a PE ratio of 10.69, a P/E/G ratio of 10.45 and a beta of 1.28.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $455.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $390.10 million. Koppers had a net margin of 4.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Koppers has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-4.600 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Koppers

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KOP. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Koppers by 3.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,897 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after buying an additional 2,212 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 3.2% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 11,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 1.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 107,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 1,845 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 3.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 111,031 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 374.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 52,076 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,458,000 after purchasing an additional 41,097 shares during the last quarter. 92.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KOP shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Koppers from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Koppers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Koppers in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Koppers from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.50.

About Koppers

Koppers Company, Inc is a global specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer serving diverse industrial markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Carbon Materials & Chemicals, which produces a range of coal tar–based products, phenolic specialties and carbon compounds; and Railroad Products & Services, which offers wood treating and infrastructure services for rail and utility customers.

In its Carbon Materials & Chemicals segment, Koppers supplies coal tar pitch, refined creosote, coal tar‐based distillates and phenolic resins used in aluminum smelting, graphite electrode manufacture, carbon fiber production, and water treatment applications.