Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Shares Sold 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 lessened its position in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Free Report) by 75.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,257 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 34,553 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Quaker Houghton worth $1,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 3.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 75,954 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 25.1% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,882 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 5.8% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,229 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $770,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 8.1% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.46% of the company's stock.

Quaker Houghton Stock Performance

KWR opened at $135.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of -314.88, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.38. Quaker Houghton has a twelve month low of $95.91 and a twelve month high of $180.96. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $121.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.34. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.71 earnings per share 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 business's revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.508 per share. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. This is a boost from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Quaker Houghton's payout ratio is presently -472.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KWR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Quaker Houghton from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $146.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 price target on shares of Quaker Houghton and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.

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