Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 19,113 Shares of Koppers Holdings Inc. $KOP

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) by 16.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 135,586 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,113 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Koppers were worth $5,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Koppers by 521.2% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 73,572 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,992,000 after purchasing an additional 61,728 shares during the period. Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Koppers by 209.4% in the fourth quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 112,401 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,044,000 after purchasing an additional 76,068 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in Koppers in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,896,000. Mangrove Partners IM LLC acquired a new position in Koppers in the fourth quarter valued at about $616,000. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Koppers by 41.1% during the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 53,168 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,543,000 after buying an additional 15,481 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Koppers

In other Koppers news, CEO M Leroy Ball sold 3,412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $149,786.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 436,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,151,067.70. The trade was a 0.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 7.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KOP. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Koppers in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Koppers from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Koppers from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Singular Research raised shares of Koppers to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Koppers Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE KOP opened at $50.30 on Wednesday. Koppers Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $25.00 and a one year high of $52.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $967.37 million, a P/E ratio of 13.24, a P/E/G ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.88 and its 200-day moving average is $39.01.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.13. Koppers had a net margin of 4.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company had revenue of $455.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Koppers has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-4.600 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Koppers Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.47%.

Koppers Company Profile

Koppers Company, Inc is a global specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer serving diverse industrial markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Carbon Materials & Chemicals, which produces a range of coal tar–based products, phenolic specialties and carbon compounds; and Railroad Products & Services, which offers wood treating and infrastructure services for rail and utility customers.

In its Carbon Materials & Chemicals segment, Koppers supplies coal tar pitch, refined creosote, coal tar‐based distillates and phenolic resins used in aluminum smelting, graphite electrode manufacture, carbon fiber production, and water treatment applications.