Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $150.75.

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 target price on Quaker Houghton and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quaker Houghton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KWR. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 54.4% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 673 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in Quaker Houghton by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 62.7% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 10,129 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 46,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 234.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,399 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Houghton Stock Down 0.4%

KWR stock opened at $130.42 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Quaker Houghton has a 52 week low of $95.91 and a 52 week high of $180.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of -303.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $136.67 and a 200 day moving average of $120.86.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $483.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $463.57 million. Quaker Houghton had a positive return on equity of 8.35% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This is a positive change from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio is currently -451.16%.

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.