Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) Stock Holdings Lowered by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its holdings in Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,311 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 557 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Koppers were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,237,486 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,094,000 after purchasing an additional 8,111 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 908,772 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,444,000 after purchasing an additional 138,603 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 632,862 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $20,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 201,557 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 177,570 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,753,000 after purchasing an additional 67,470 shares in the last quarter. 92.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KOP shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Koppers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 22nd. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of Koppers in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th.

Koppers Price Performance

Shares of Koppers stock opened at $31.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Koppers Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.99 and a fifty-two week high of $44.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.74. The company has a market cap of $626.03 million, a PE ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 1.44.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.15. Koppers had a net margin of 3.55% and a return on equity of 16.71%. The company had revenue of $456.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $488.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Koppers declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio is 27.59%.

Koppers Profile

Koppers Holdings Inc provides treated wood products, wood preservation chemicals, and carbon compounds in the United States, Australasia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Railroad and Utility Products and Services (RUPS), Performance Chemicals (PC), and Carbon Materials and Chemicals (CMC) segments.