New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Position in NewMarket Co. (NYSE:NEU)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in NewMarket Co. (NYSE:NEU) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 41,896 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,518 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in NewMarket were worth $22,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NEU. LSV Asset Management raised its position in NewMarket by 62.7% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 229,568 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $104,463,000 after acquiring an additional 88,476 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in NewMarket by 4,435.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 87,350 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,678,000 after acquiring an additional 85,424 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in NewMarket by 5.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,923 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $326,684,000 after acquiring an additional 40,028 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of NewMarket by 334.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 50,027 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $22,764,000 after buying an additional 38,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of NewMarket by 41.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 105,136 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,841,000 after buying an additional 30,694 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.09% of the company’s stock.

NewMarket Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NEU stock opened at $529.04 on Friday. NewMarket Co. has a fifty-two week low of $371.69 and a fifty-two week high of $650.00. The stock has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $612.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $561.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

NewMarket (NYSE:NEU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $11.23 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $696.74 million for the quarter. NewMarket had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 14.82%.

NewMarket Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $2.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $10.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from NewMarket’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. NewMarket’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut NewMarket from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 4th.

NewMarket Profile

NewMarket Corporation, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the manufacture and sale of petroleum additives. The company offers lubricant additives for use in various vehicle and industrial applications, including engine oils, transmission fluids, off-road powertrain and hydraulic systems, gear oils, hydraulic oils, turbine oils, and other applications where metal-to-metal moving parts are utilized; engine oil additives designed for passenger cars, motorcycles, on and off-road heavy duty commercial equipment, locomotives, and engines in ocean-going vessels; driveline additives designed for products, such as transmission fluids, axle fluids, and off-road powertrain fluids; and industrial additives designed for products for industrial applications consisting of hydraulic fluids, grease, industrial gear fluids, and industrial specialty applications, such as turbine oils.