Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 1,499 Shares of Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,982 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.08% of Quaker Chemical worth $2,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KWR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Quaker Chemical by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,638,419 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $230,624,000 after purchasing an additional 23,832 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Quaker Chemical by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 759,233 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $106,870,000 after acquiring an additional 122,494 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 555,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $78,153,000 after acquiring an additional 120,916 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 554,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $93,447,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 394,708 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $53,680,000 after purchasing an additional 82,843 shares in the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KWR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Quaker Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Quaker Chemical from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Quaker Chemical from $172.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Quaker Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KWR opened at $105.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $129.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.21. Quaker Chemical Co. has a fifty-two week low of $95.91 and a fifty-two week high of $197.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.44.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $444.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $430.47 million. Quaker Chemical had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 6.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. Quaker Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 29.80%.

About Quaker Chemical

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.