Ieq Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Quaker Houghton $KWR

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC has acquired a new stake in Quaker Houghton valued at approximately $243,000, acquiring 1,963 shares of the specialty chemicals company during the first quarter.
• Quaker Houghton plans to increase its quarterly dividend to $0.508, payable on October 31st, representing an annualized payout of $2.03 and a yield of 1.4%.
• The stock price of Quaker Houghton opened at $144.63, with a market cap of $2.52 billion and a current analyst consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,963 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 102,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $12,639,000 after purchasing an additional 17,350 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its position in Quaker Houghton by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 7,544 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $932,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in Quaker Houghton during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,349,000. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in Quaker Houghton by 205.5% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 13,017 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,609,000 after acquiring an additional 8,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Quaker Houghton by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,603 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $816,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company's stock.

Quaker Houghton Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of KWR traded down $0.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $141.26. The company had a trading volume of 93,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 128,983. 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 50-day moving average price of $131.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.67. Quaker Houghton has a 52 week low of $95.91 and a 52 week high of $180.96. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -328.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a $0.508 dividend. 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%. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Quaker Houghton's payout ratio is presently -451.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Quaker Houghton 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.