Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) Upgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to Buy Rating

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $146.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on KWR. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Quaker Chemical from $172.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report 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 on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Quaker Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.25.

Quaker Chemical Stock Performance

KWR stock opened at $120.21 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $105.65 and a 200-day moving average of $127.77. Quaker Chemical has a 12-month low of $95.91 and a 12-month high of $193.74.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.06. Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 6.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $442.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $455.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Quaker Chemical’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Quaker Chemical will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 17th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Quaker Chemical’s payout ratio is 36.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quaker Chemical

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bridge City Capital LLC increased its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 16,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,267,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,512 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 7.1% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 7.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,671 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Quaker Chemical by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. 77.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.