Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Given Sell (D) Rating at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Quaker Houghton has received a sell (D) rating from Weiss Ratings, highlighting concerns about its stock performance.
• Despite the negative rating, Quaker Houghton has a mixed analyst outlook with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price of $150.75.
• The company's recent earnings report showed a miss on EPS estimates, reporting $1.71 compared to the expected $1.82, but a revenue increase of 4.3% year-over-year.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell (d)" rating reiterated by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on KWR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 price objective on Quaker Houghton and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $150.75.

Quaker Houghton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KWR opened at $131.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -306.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Quaker Houghton has a 52 week low of $95.91 and a 52 week high of $180.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.81.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $463.57 million. Quaker Houghton had a negative net margin of 0.39% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. Quaker Houghton's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Quaker Houghton

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KWR. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 26.7% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,416 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,411,000 after buying an additional 2,403 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 390.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 363 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quaker Houghton during the first quarter worth approximately $397,000. Finally, CX Institutional acquired a new stake in Quaker Houghton in the first quarter worth approximately $2,595,000. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company's stock.

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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