Swiss National Bank Has $3.41 Million Stock Position in Quaker Houghton $KWR

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,600 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.16% of Quaker Houghton worth $3,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 3.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 75,954 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,389,000 after buying an additional 2,193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 390.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 363 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 25.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,882 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 5.8% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,229 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $770,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 8.1% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KWR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 target price on shares of Quaker Houghton and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $146.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quaker Houghton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.75.

Quaker Houghton Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Quaker Houghton stock opened at $137.0040 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of -318.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $122.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.40. Quaker Houghton has a 52-week low of $95.91 and a 52-week high of $180.96.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $483.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $463.57 million. Quaker Houghton had a negative net margin of 0.39% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS 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. This is a boost from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Quaker Houghton’s payout ratio is presently -451.16%.

Quaker Houghton 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.