Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Lowered to Buy Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Koppers (NYSE:KOP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Singular Research upgraded Koppers to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Koppers in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Koppers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Koppers currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Koppers Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE:KOP opened at $46.92 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $887.18 million, a P/E ratio of -9.94, a P/E/G ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. Koppers has a 12-month low of $25.00 and a 12-month high of $53.00.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.25. Koppers had a positive return on equity of 14.98% and a negative net margin of 4.59%.The firm had revenue of $520.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $506.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Koppers has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-4.200 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Koppers will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio is -7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Koppers news, CAO Bradley A. Pearce sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.01, for a total value of $102,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 41,037 shares in the company, valued at $2,093,297.37. This trade represents a 4.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider James A. Sullivan sold 80,000 shares of Koppers stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $4,000,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 90,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,520,803.98. This trade represents a 46.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 94,220 shares of company stock worth $4,685,878 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Koppers

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in Koppers during the second quarter worth $30,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Koppers by 258.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,930 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Koppers by 95.6% in the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Koppers by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,235 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Koppers during the 4th quarter worth about $114,000. 92.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Koppers

Koppers Company, Inc is a global specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer serving diverse industrial markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Carbon Materials & Chemicals, which produces a range of coal tar–based products, phenolic specialties and carbon compounds; and Railroad Products & Services, which offers wood treating and infrastructure services for rail and utility customers.

In its Carbon Materials & Chemicals segment, Koppers supplies coal tar pitch, refined creosote, coal tar‐based distillates and phenolic resins used in aluminum smelting, graphite electrode manufacture, carbon fiber production, and water treatment applications.