Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Quaker Houghton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Quaker Houghton in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $158.67.

Quaker Houghton Stock Performance

Shares of KWR stock opened at $155.29 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $142.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.91. Quaker Houghton has a 12 month low of $95.91 and a 12 month high of $162.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -316.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Quaker Houghton (NYSE:KWR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $493.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $475.06 million. Quaker Houghton had a positive return on equity of 8.64% and a negative net margin of 0.48%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Quaker Houghton will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quaker Houghton

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Quaker Houghton by 165.0% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 7,782 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in Quaker Houghton by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 278,576 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,251,000 after purchasing an additional 24,573 shares during the period. Chatham Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Quaker Houghton by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 10,844 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Quaker Houghton during the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

About Quaker Houghton

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.