Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from five rating firms, with one analyst suggesting a sell, one a hold, and three recommending a buy.
• The company's stock opened at $125.96, with a 52-week high of $180.96 and a low of $95.91, while reporting a 4.3% year-over-year increase in revenue.
• Quaker Houghton has declared an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.508, representing an annualized amount of $2.03 and a dividend yield of 1.6%.

Shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $150.75.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 target price on Quaker Houghton and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th.

Quaker Houghton Stock Down 1.7%

KWR stock opened at $125.96 on Friday. Quaker Houghton has a fifty-two week low of $95.91 and a fifty-two week high of $180.96. The business's 50 day moving average price is $136.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.56. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -292.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.42.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Quaker Houghton had a positive return on equity of 8.35% and a negative net margin of 0.39%.The firm had revenue of $483.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $463.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a $0.508 dividend. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -451.16%.

Institutional Trading of Quaker Houghton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 230 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Houghton in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 284.8% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 390.5% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 119.7% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.