StockNews.com Lowers Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

KWR has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Quaker Chemical from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Quaker Chemical from $220.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th.

Quaker Chemical Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of KWR opened at $162.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Quaker Chemical has a one year low of $138.67 and a one year high of $221.94. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.43.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.08). Quaker Chemical had a return on equity of 10.49% and a net margin of 6.56%. The firm had revenue of $463.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $493.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Quaker Chemical will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 17th will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This is a boost from Quaker Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Quaker Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 26.45%.

Institutional Trading of Quaker Chemical

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 105.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 156 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 36.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 286 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Chemical 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.