Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Quaker Houghton from $149.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Quaker Houghton presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.33.

Quaker Houghton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KWR opened at $133.02 on Thursday. 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 52-week low of $95.91 and a 52-week high of $168.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -309.35, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.08.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.14. Quaker Houghton had a positive return on equity of 8.35% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The firm had revenue of $493.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $475.06 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th will be given a $0.508 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio is currently -414.29%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KWR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton by 6.5% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 675,738 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,028,000 after acquiring an additional 41,530 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton by 79.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 661,888 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $87,204,000 after purchasing an additional 293,977 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 633,886 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $83,514,000 after purchasing an additional 19,788 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Quaker Houghton by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 596,618 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,785,000 after purchasing an additional 50,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Quaker Houghton by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 431,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $53,283,000 after purchasing an additional 52,962 shares in the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.