King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 17,349 Shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in Quaker Houghton by 73.7% during the 1st quarter, leaving it with a holding valued at $765,000.
• Quaker Houghton recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.508 per share, up from $0.49, with a dividend yield of 1.5%.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Quaker Houghton, with an average price target of $150.75.

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its position in Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Free Report) by 73.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,185 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 17,349 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp's holdings in Quaker Houghton were worth $765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Houghton in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 400.0% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 390.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 363 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 119.7% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 200.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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 report on Monday, June 9th. 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 report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $150.75.

Quaker Houghton Stock Performance

NYSE:KWR traded down $0.81 on Friday, reaching $135.40. 82,765 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 173,496. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -314.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.38. Quaker Houghton has a 52 week low of $95.91 and a 52 week high of $180.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.52.

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

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a dividend of $0.508 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This is a boost from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Quaker Houghton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.