M Leroy Ball Sells 4,000 Shares of Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Stock

Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) CEO M Leroy Ball sold 4,000 shares of Koppers stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.96, for a total value of $183,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 429,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,742,347.80. This represents a 0.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

M Leroy Ball also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 19th, M Leroy Ball sold 3,000 shares of Koppers stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.84, for a total value of $137,520.00.
• On Thursday, June 18th, M Leroy Ball sold 3,412 shares of Koppers stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total transaction of $149,786.80.

Koppers Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of KOP stock opened at $46.79 on Thursday. Koppers Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.00 and a 1 year high of $53.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $884.74 million, a P/E ratio of -9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.25. Koppers had a negative net margin of 4.59% and a positive return on equity of 14.98%. The firm had revenue of $520.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $506.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Koppers has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-4.200 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.08 EPS for the current year.

Koppers Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Koppers’s payout ratio is currently -7.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Koppers

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Koppers during the second quarter worth about $136,837,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Koppers in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,652,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Koppers by 4,694.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 896,878 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,270,000 after acquiring an additional 878,170 shares during the last quarter. Simcoe Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Koppers during the 4th quarter valued at $22,032,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Koppers during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,993,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Singular Research upgraded Koppers to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered Koppers from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Koppers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

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.