American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 5,118 Shares of Quaker Houghton $KWR

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 35.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,712 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,118 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.11% of Quaker Houghton worth $2,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KWR. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Quaker Houghton during the fourth quarter worth about $217,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Quaker Houghton by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 208,105 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,293,000 after acquiring an additional 29,113 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in Quaker Houghton during the fourth quarter worth about $494,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Quaker Houghton by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,199 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Quaker Houghton by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 134,818 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $18,977,000 after acquiring an additional 2,794 shares during the period. 77.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Quaker Houghton Price Performance

KWR stock opened at $145.17 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Quaker Houghton has a 12 month low of $95.91 and a 12 month high of $180.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -337.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $126.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.44.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.11). Quaker Houghton had a negative net margin of 0.39% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. The firm had revenue of $483.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $463.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Quaker Houghton’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a $0.508 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio is -472.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Quaker Houghton 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.