Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Quaker Chemical from $220.00 to $195.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Quaker Chemical from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th.

Quaker Chemical Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE KWR opened at $164.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.63. Quaker Chemical has a 52 week low of $138.67 and a 52 week high of $221.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $165.66 and its 200 day moving average is $177.69.

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

Quaker Chemical Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Quaker Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 17th. Quaker Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 27.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quaker Chemical

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,607,511 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $329,942,000 after buying an additional 8,484 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 359,617 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $61,027,000 after purchasing an additional 46,240 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 337.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 224,008 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,014,000 after purchasing an additional 172,750 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 3.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 138,878 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $23,568,000 after purchasing an additional 4,733 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 2,077.7% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 138,239 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $23,459,000 after buying an additional 131,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

About Quaker Chemical

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.