BlackRock Inc. Takes Position in Quaker Houghton $KWR

BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,110,468 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,290,000. BlackRock Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Quaker Houghton as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Quaker Houghton by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 756,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $103,942,000 after purchasing an additional 95,100 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 755,740 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $103,771,000 after buying an additional 121,854 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 750,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $93,271,000 after buying an additional 38,261 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Quaker Houghton by 9.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 596,618 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $66,785,000 after buying an additional 50,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Quaker Houghton by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 469,981 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $64,533,000 after buying an additional 118,321 shares during the period. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KWR shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target (up from $172.00) on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Quaker Houghton from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Quaker Houghton from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quaker Houghton currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quaker Houghton

In related news, Director William H. Osborne sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.31, for a total transaction of $100,986.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,678.96. This represents a 49.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Houghton Stock Up 0.0%

Quaker Houghton stock opened at $164.76 on Thursday. Quaker Houghton has a twelve month low of $112.18 and a twelve month high of $183.01. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $158.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.40.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.53. Quaker Houghton had a return on equity of 9.55% and a net margin of 4.94%.The firm had revenue of $532.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $504.63 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. Quaker Houghton’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a boost from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 16th. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.19%.

Quaker Houghton announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 13th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Quaker Houghton Profile

Quaker Houghton is a global provider of process fluids, chemical specialties and sustainable solutions for industrial applications. The company develops and supplies metalworking fluids, coatings, and corrosion inhibitors, as well as heat transfer, lubrication and additive products designed to improve productivity and extend equipment life. Its portfolio addresses a range of end markets including automotive, aerospace, defense, energy, mining, agriculture and heavy industry.

The company traces its roots back to the founding of Quaker Chemical Corporation in 1918 and Houghton International in 1865.