Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

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

Separately, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Quaker Chemical in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. They issued an overweight rating and a $220.00 price objective on the stock.

Quaker Chemical Price Performance

KWR stock opened at $182.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.40. Quaker Chemical has a twelve month low of $138.67 and a twelve month high of $221.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Quaker Chemical had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 6.16%. The business had revenue of $469.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $494.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Quaker Chemical will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Quaker Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 17th will be given a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 17th. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Quaker Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quaker Chemical

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 512.8% during the 4th quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 14,884 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,177,000 after purchasing an additional 12,455 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical during the 1st quarter worth $5,082,000. Ranger Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 96,769 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $20,652,000 after buying an additional 27,669 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,599,027 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $341,264,000 after buying an additional 11,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 281,367 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,056,000 after buying an additional 25,442 shares during the last quarter. 77.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.