Quaker Houghton $KWR Position Cut by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 25.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,362 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,511 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Quaker Houghton were worth $824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of KWR. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 151.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 912 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Quaker Houghton during the first quarter valued at about $23,190,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 29.9% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,203 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Quaker Houghton by 35.1% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 19,712 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 5,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional raised its position in Quaker Houghton by 183.8% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 59,592 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,671,000 after acquiring an additional 38,596 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on KWR. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Quaker Houghton from $149.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quaker Houghton has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.33.

Quaker Houghton Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:KWR opened at $138.68 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $133.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.82. 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 $161.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -322.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.47.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $493.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $475.06 million. Quaker Houghton had a positive return on equity of 8.35% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Announces Dividend

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

About Quaker Houghton

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.