Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Increases Stock Position in Quaker Houghton $KWR

Key Points

• Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Quaker Houghton by 37.5%, owning approximately 0.22% of the company valued at $4.77 million after acquiring an additional 10,536 shares.
• Quaker Houghton recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.508 per share, reflecting a positive change from its previous $0.49 dividend.
• Several institutional investors, including LPL Financial LLC and Wells Fargo & Company, have significantly boosted their positions in Quaker Houghton in recent quarters, indicating strong investor interest.

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Free Report) by 37.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,638 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,536 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP owned about 0.22% of Quaker Houghton worth $4,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Quaker Houghton by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,512 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Quaker Houghton by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,671 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Quaker Houghton by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 1.8% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,598 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $816,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 7.8% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on KWR. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Quaker Houghton from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $146.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 price target on shares of Quaker Houghton and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $150.75.

Quaker Houghton Stock Performance

KWR stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $144.00. The company had a trading volume of 56,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 170,371. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $124.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.44. Quaker Houghton has a 12 month low of $95.91 and a 12 month high of $180.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of -334.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Quaker Houghton's dividend payout ratio is currently -451.16%.

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.