Quaker Houghton $KWR Stock Holdings Decreased by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC significantly reduced its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 75.4%, selling over 34,000 shares in the first quarter.
• Quaker Houghton reported a quarterly loss with earnings per share of $1.71, missing analyst estimates, despite a revenue increase of 4.3% year-over-year.
• The company announced an increased quarterly dividend of $0.508 per share, marking a rise from the previous dividend, indicating confidence in continued shareholder returns.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC cut its position in Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Free Report) by 75.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,257 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 34,553 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.06% of Quaker Houghton worth $1,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Quaker Houghton by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 445,365 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $62,689,000 after purchasing an additional 51,393 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Quaker Houghton by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 420,269 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $51,949,000 after purchasing an additional 44,895 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Quaker Houghton by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 417,897 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $51,681,000 after purchasing an additional 23,189 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Quaker Houghton by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 378,092 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $53,221,000 after purchasing an additional 17,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Quaker Houghton by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 323,114 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $39,940,000 after purchasing an additional 8,955 shares during the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Quaker Houghton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KWR traded up $8.0840 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $144.9940. The company's stock had a trading volume of 61,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 170,019. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $122.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.41. Quaker Houghton has a one year low of $95.91 and a one year high of $180.96. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -337.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.38.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) last released its 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 business had revenue of $483.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $463.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.508 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This is an increase from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Quaker Houghton's payout ratio is presently -451.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.