Magnetar Financial LLC Invests $470,000 in Quaker Houghton $KWR

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC has acquired a new stake, buying 3,800 shares of Quaker Houghton, valued at approximately $470,000, in its latest filing with the SEC.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their positions in Quaker Houghton, leading to institutional ownership rising to 77.46% of the company's stock.
• Quaker Houghton has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.508 per share, up from the previous $0.49, with an ex-dividend date set for October 17th.

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $470,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KWR. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Quaker Houghton in the first quarter valued at approximately $23,190,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 402.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 90,389 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $12,723,000 after purchasing an additional 72,383 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,588 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $17,959,000 after purchasing an additional 70,218 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 52.2% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 191,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $26,998,000 after purchasing an additional 65,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 26.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 260,665 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $32,221,000 after purchasing an additional 54,800 shares in the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Quaker Houghton Trading Up 2.5%

Quaker Houghton stock traded up $3.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $144.63. The stock had a trading volume of 147,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 133,041. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of -336.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.44. Quaker Houghton has a 12 month low of $95.91 and a 12 month high of $180.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) last released 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). The business had revenue of $483.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $463.57 million. Quaker Houghton had a positive return on equity of 8.35% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.508 per share. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Quaker Houghton's payout ratio is -451.16%.

Quaker Houghton Company 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.