Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Stock Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Shares of Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $148.36 and traded as high as $162.41. Quaker Houghton shares last traded at $161.0470, with a volume of 192,109 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KWR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Quaker Houghton from $177.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Quaker Houghton from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $172.00) on shares of Quaker Houghton in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Quaker Houghton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $187.00.

Quaker Houghton Trading Down 2.2%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Quaker Houghton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 16th. This is a boost from Quaker Houghton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.5080. Quaker Houghton’s payout ratio is 36.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quaker Houghton

In other news, Director William Osborne sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.31, for a total transaction of $100,986.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quaker Houghton

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KWR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Quaker Houghton in the 2nd quarter worth $335,290,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 5.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 750,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $93,271,000 after buying an additional 38,261 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quaker Houghton during the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,810,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Quaker Houghton by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 406,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,793,000 after acquiring an additional 120,772 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Quaker Houghton during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,045,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

About Quaker Houghton

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) is a global provider of industrial process fluids and services. The company develops, manufactures and supplies chemical formulations used to improve performance, efficiency, safety and product quality in manufacturing and metalworking operations.

Its product portfolio includes metal-removal and metal-forming fluids, hydraulic and specialty fluids, industrial cleaners, coatings, corrosion preventives and fire-resistant fluids. Quaker Houghton also provides fluid-management programs, technical support, equipment and related services designed to help customers manage industrial processes and maintenance requirements.

The company serves customers in industries including steel, aluminum, automotive, aerospace, mining, machinery and other general manufacturing markets.