Arizona State Retirement System Sells 61 Shares of Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its stake in Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Quaker Chemical were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Quaker Chemical in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 65.0% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 193 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Quaker Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 327 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Quaker Chemical during the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Chemical Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of KWR opened at $188.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.79. Quaker Chemical Co. has a twelve month low of $138.67 and a twelve month high of $221.94.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $467.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $470.55 million. Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 10.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.39 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Quaker Chemical announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Quaker Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 16th will be given a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 15th. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Quaker Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 29.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on KWR. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Quaker Chemical from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Quaker Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Quaker Chemical 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.