Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Position in NPK International Inc. $NPKI

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of NPK International Inc. (NYSE:NPKI) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,706,012 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44,251 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 5.57% of NPK International worth $56,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its holdings in shares of NPK International by 985.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 506,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,729,000 after purchasing an additional 459,935 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in NPK International by 200.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 223,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,527,000 after acquiring an additional 149,088 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in NPK International by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,971,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,603,000 after acquiring an additional 344,658 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in NPK International by 95.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $905,000 after acquiring an additional 38,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Round Rock Advisors LLC raised its stake in NPK International by 85.9% in the 4th quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC now owns 92,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,098,000 after acquiring an additional 42,564 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NPKI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered NPK International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating on shares of NPK International in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered NPK International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NPK International has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.17.

NPK International Stock Performance

Shares of NPKI stock opened at $15.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $14.66 and a 200 day moving average of $13.63. NPK International Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.63 and a 1 year high of $16.50.

NPK International (NYSE:NPKI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $75.07 million during the quarter. NPK International had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.71%. As a group, research analysts expect that NPK International Inc. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other NPK International news, CFO Gregg Piontek sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.04, for a total transaction of $225,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 819,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,322,663.04. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael A. Lewis sold 2,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $28,806.03. Following the sale, the director directly owned 131,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,879,375.23. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 161,603 shares of company stock worth $2,303,677 over the last ninety days. 4.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NPK International Profile

NPK International, Inc (NYSE: NPKI) is a specialty chemical distributor supplying a broad range of industrial and performance materials across diverse end-markets. Its product portfolio includes acetic acid and derivatives, alcohols, ketones, esters, glycol ethers, glycols, specialty solvents, select inorganic chemicals and crop-protection intermediates. These materials serve industries such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, oil and gas, personal care, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and water treatment.

The company places a strong emphasis on supply-chain security and technical service, maintaining warehousing, logistics support and laboratory capabilities at its regional distribution centers.