Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Raises Dividend to $0.51 Per Share

Key Points

• Quaker Houghton announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.51 per share, which represents a 4.7% rise from the previous dividend of $0.49.
• The company has a dividend payout ratio of 22.4%, indicating that the dividend is well-covered by earnings, with expected earnings of $8.42 per share next year.
• A number of institutional investors have increased their stakes in Quaker Houghton, with significant contributions from Goldman Sachs and AQR Capital Management.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 30th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.508 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Friday, October 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This is a 4.7% increase from Quaker Houghton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49.

Quaker Houghton has a dividend payout ratio of 22.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Quaker Houghton to earn $8.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

Quaker Houghton Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE:KWR traded up $3.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $117.73. 376,890 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 176,230. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -273.78, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.79. Quaker Houghton has a 12-month low of $95.91 and a 12-month high of $180.96. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $117.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.98.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.71 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $463.57 million. Quaker Houghton had a positive return on equity of 8.28% and a negative net margin of 0.39%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quaker Houghton

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,638,419 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $230,624,000 after purchasing an additional 23,832 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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 worth $62,689,000 after purchasing an additional 51,393 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $53,283,000 after purchasing an additional 52,962 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $48,179,000 after purchasing an additional 10,133 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake 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 worth $51,681,000 after purchasing an additional 23,189 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.