ChampionX (NASDAQ:CHX) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $40.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. ChampionX traded as high as $39.95 and last traded at $39.36, with a volume of 146685 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.34.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of ChampionX from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of ChampionX from $39.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.33.

Insider Activity at ChampionX

In related news, insider William Jr. O’dell sold 27,178 shares of ChampionX stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $978,408.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,078,928. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CHX. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of ChampionX by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 74,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 7,061 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ChampionX by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,501,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,791,000 after acquiring an additional 126,529 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its holdings in shares of ChampionX by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 110,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,000 after acquiring an additional 8,223 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ChampionX by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 109,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,673,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of ChampionX by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 694,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,014,000 after acquiring an additional 104,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

ChampionX Trading Down 2.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.03 and its 200 day moving average is $31.00. The stock has a market cap of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.44.

ChampionX (NASDAQ:CHX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. ChampionX had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 20.14%. The company had revenue of $943.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $947.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ChampionX Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ChampionX Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.095 dividend. This is a positive change from ChampionX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. ChampionX’s dividend payout ratio is 24.20%.

About ChampionX

ChampionX Corporation provides chemistry solutions, artificial lift systems, and engineered equipment and technologies to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Production Chemical Technologies, Production & Automation Technologies, Drilling Technologies, and Reservoir Chemical Technologies.