Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Quaker Houghton $KWR

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lowered its position in Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 273,889 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,687 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.’s holdings in Quaker Houghton were worth $34,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 114.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 23,139 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,860,000 after acquiring an additional 12,341 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Quaker Houghton by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Quaker Houghton by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 8,211 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Quaker Houghton by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 95,751 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,836,000 after purchasing an additional 21,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quaker Houghton by 44.4% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 9,873 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,220,000 after buying an additional 3,034 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Quaker Houghton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 12th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded Quaker Houghton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Quaker Houghton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Quaker Houghton from $151.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.00.

Insider Activity at Quaker Houghton

In related news, EVP Jeewat Bijlani sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.77, for a total transaction of $106,557.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $983,655.96. This represents a 9.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Quaker Houghton Stock Performance

NYSE:KWR opened at $160.94 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $144.31 and its 200 day moving average is $144.21. Quaker Houghton has a fifty-two week low of $111.42 and a fifty-two week high of $183.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 574.82, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.45.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.66 by ($0.03). Quaker Houghton had a return on equity of 9.03% and a net margin of 0.22%.The firm had revenue of $480.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $463.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quaker Houghton will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Houghton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th will be issued a $0.508 dividend. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 17th. Quaker Houghton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 725.00%.

Quaker Houghton declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Quaker Houghton Company Profile

Quaker Houghton is a global provider of process fluids, chemical specialties and sustainable solutions for industrial applications. The company develops and supplies metalworking fluids, coatings, and corrosion inhibitors, as well as heat transfer, lubrication and additive products designed to improve productivity and extend equipment life. Its portfolio addresses a range of end markets including automotive, aerospace, defense, energy, mining, agriculture and heavy industry.

The company traces its roots back to the founding of Quaker Chemical Corporation in 1918 and Houghton International in 1865.