Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $50.07 and last traded at $49.33, with a volume of 23373 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $49.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on KOP. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Koppers in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Singular Research raised shares of Koppers to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Koppers from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Koppers from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.50.

Koppers Stock Up 4.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $985.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a P/E/G ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.19.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.13. Koppers had a net margin of 4.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company had revenue of $455.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Koppers has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-4.600 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.47%.

Insider Transactions at Koppers

In other Koppers news, CEO M Leroy Ball sold 3,412 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total transaction of $149,786.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 436,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,151,067.70. This represents a 0.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 7.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Koppers by 258.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,930 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in Koppers by 95.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Koppers by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,235 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Koppers during the 4th quarter worth approximately $114,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Koppers during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $160,000. 92.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Koppers Company Profile

Koppers Company, Inc is a global specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer serving diverse industrial markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Carbon Materials & Chemicals, which produces a range of coal tar–based products, phenolic specialties and carbon compounds; and Railroad Products & Services, which offers wood treating and infrastructure services for rail and utility customers.

In its Carbon Materials & Chemicals segment, Koppers supplies coal tar pitch, refined creosote, coal tar‐based distillates and phenolic resins used in aluminum smelting, graphite electrode manufacture, carbon fiber production, and water treatment applications.