Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 2,714 Shares of Quaker Houghton $KWR

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,635,705 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,714 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Quaker Houghton worth $202,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Quaker Houghton in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Quaker Houghton by 400.0% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 390.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 363 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Quaker Houghton by 119.7% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in Quaker Houghton by 200.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 target price on shares of Quaker Houghton and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $146.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.75.

Quaker Houghton Price Performance

Shares of KWR opened at $137.5390 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $122.22 and a 200-day moving average of $120.28. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -319.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.38. Quaker Houghton has a 1 year low of $95.91 and a 1 year high of $180.96.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.11). Quaker Houghton had a negative net margin of 0.39% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. The firm had revenue of $483.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $463.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.508 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio is presently -472.09%.

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.