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

StockNews.com cut shares of Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Quaker Chemical from $220.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Quaker Chemical from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th.

Quaker Chemical Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE KWR opened at $165.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 1.85 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.51.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.08). Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 10.49%. The business had revenue of $463.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $493.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. Quaker Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 17th. This is a boost from Quaker Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Quaker Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical by 36.8% during the second 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 105.3% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 156 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in Quaker Chemical by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 7,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Bridge City Capital LLC raised its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 13,721 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,778 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. 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.