Quaker Houghton $KWR Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 1.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,225 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 143 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Quaker Houghton were worth $1,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quaker Houghton during the first quarter worth about $1,349,000. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 205.5% during the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 13,017 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,609,000 after purchasing an additional 8,756 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 20.0% during the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,603 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 37.5% in the first quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 38,638 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,776,000 after acquiring an additional 10,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 14.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 431,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $53,283,000 after acquiring an additional 52,962 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Houghton Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE:KWR opened at $144.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -336.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.44. Quaker Houghton has a one year low of $95.91 and a one year high of $180.96. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.73.

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

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.508 dividend. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio is presently -451.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on KWR. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 price target on Quaker Houghton and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $146.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.75.

Quaker Houghton 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.