Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Price Target Raised to $202.00

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank Of Canada from $198.00 to $202.00 in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on KWR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Quaker Houghton from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Zacks Research upgraded Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (up from $172.00) on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Quaker Houghton from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $188.00.

Quaker Houghton Price Performance

Shares of KWR stock opened at $157.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Quaker Houghton has a 12 month low of $112.18 and a 12 month high of $183.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $161.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.47.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $532.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $504.63 million. Quaker Houghton had a net margin of 4.94% and a return on equity of 9.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.85 EPS for the current year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 16th. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.5080. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.19%.

Insider Transactions at Quaker Houghton

In related news, Director William Osborne sold 600 shares of Quaker Houghton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.31, for a total value of $100,986.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 616 shares in the company, valued at $103,678.96. This trade represents a 49.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quaker Houghton

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quaker Houghton in the 2nd quarter valued at $335,290,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quaker Houghton during the second quarter worth about $66,810,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Quaker Houghton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,045,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Quaker Houghton in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,472,000. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Quaker Houghton during the second quarter worth about $26,259,000. 77.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Quaker Houghton

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) is a global provider of industrial process fluids and services. The company develops, manufactures and supplies chemical formulations used to improve performance, efficiency, safety and product quality in manufacturing and metalworking operations.

Its product portfolio includes metal-removal and metal-forming fluids, hydraulic and specialty fluids, industrial cleaners, coatings, corrosion preventives and fire-resistant fluids. Quaker Houghton also provides fluid-management programs, technical support, equipment and related services designed to help customers manage industrial processes and maintenance requirements.

The company serves customers in industries including steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, mining, machinery and other general manufacturing markets.