Analysts Set Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) PT at $150.75

Key Points

• Quaker Houghton has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from four brokerages, with an average price target of $150.75.
• The company reported earnings of $1.71 per share for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.11, while revenue grew 4.3% year-over-year.
• Quaker Houghton announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.508, to be paid on October 31st, with a current yield of 1.4%.

Shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the four analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $150.75.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Quaker Houghton from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $146.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $135.00 price target on Quaker Houghton and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quaker Houghton

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KWR. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 596,618 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $66,785,000 after acquiring an additional 50,264 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 13.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 51,393 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 431,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $53,283,000 after acquiring an additional 52,962 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 430,402 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $48,179,000 after acquiring an additional 10,133 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 5.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 23,189 shares during the period. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Quaker Houghton Price Performance

Quaker Houghton stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $145.15. 91,972 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 160,297. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -337.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.38. 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 has a twelve month low of $95.91 and a twelve month high of $180.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $125.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.66.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $483.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $463.57 million. Quaker Houghton had a negative net margin of 0.39% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.508 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Quaker Houghton's dividend 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.