Quaker Houghton $KWR Stake Cut by Hosking Partners LLP

Hosking Partners LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,920 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 5,685 shares during the period. Hosking Partners LLP’s holdings in Quaker Houghton were worth $16,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KWR. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 14.4% in the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,212 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in Quaker Houghton by 2.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,111 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Quaker Houghton in the second quarter worth $241,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in Quaker Houghton in the second quarter worth $776,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Quaker Houghton in the second quarter valued at $4,738,000. 77.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on KWR shares. Wall Street Zen raised Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Quaker Houghton from $198.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Quaker Houghton from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (up from $172.00) on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Quaker Houghton currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $188.00.

Quaker Houghton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KWR opened at $156.47 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.70. Quaker Houghton has a 12 month low of $112.18 and a 12 month high of $183.01.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.53. Quaker Houghton had a return on equity of 9.55% and a net margin of 4.94%. The business had revenue of $532.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $504.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Quaker Houghton will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 16th. This is a positive change from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.5080. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quaker Houghton news, Director William Osborne sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.31, for a total transaction of $100,986.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,678.96. The trade was a 49.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Houghton Profile

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) is a global provider of industrial process fluids and chemical products used in manufacturing and other heavy industries. The company develops, produces and supplies fluids, lubricants, cleaners, corrosion preventives and specialty chemical solutions designed to support metalworking, forming, treating and finishing processes.

Its products are used by customers in industries including steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, mining, machinery, metal packaging and other general manufacturing markets.