Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $146.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Quaker Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Quaker Chemical from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Quaker Chemical from $172.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.25.

Quaker Chemical Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Quaker Chemical stock opened at $120.25 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.10 and its 200-day moving average is $127.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Quaker Chemical has a 12-month low of $95.91 and a 12-month high of $193.74.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.06. Quaker Chemical had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 6.58%. The firm had revenue of $442.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $455.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Quaker Chemical’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Quaker Chemical will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 17th. Quaker Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 36.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KWR. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Quaker Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,978,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Quaker Chemical during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $23,190,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Quaker Chemical by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 759,233 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $106,870,000 after purchasing an additional 122,494 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Quaker Chemical by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 555,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $78,153,000 after purchasing an additional 120,916 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Quaker Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,399,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.