Cerity Partners LLC Takes $291,000 Position in Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR)

Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,367 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical by 13.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 681,245 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,999,000 after acquiring an additional 80,043 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Quaker Chemical by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 327,057 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $52,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Quaker Chemical by 507.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 294,516 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,123,000 after purchasing an additional 245,993 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Quaker Chemical by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,088,000 after purchasing an additional 7,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Quaker Chemical by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 187,625 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $30,020,000 after purchasing an additional 6,961 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Quaker Chemical from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Quaker Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Quaker Chemical Price Performance

KWR opened at $190.23 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $197.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.52. Quaker Chemical Co. has a 52 week low of $138.67 and a 52 week high of $221.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 30.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.49.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.11. Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 10.22%. The firm had revenue of $467.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $470.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Chemical declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 28th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Quaker Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 15th. Quaker Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

Quaker Chemical Profile

Quaker Chemical Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets various formulated specialty chemical products for a range of heavy industrial and manufacturing applications in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers metal removal fluids, cleaning fluids, corrosion inhibitors, metal drawing and forming fluids, die-cast mold releases, heat treatment and quenchants, metal forging fluids, hydraulic fluids, specialty greases, offshore sub-sea energy control fluids, rolling lubricants, rod and wire drawing fluids, and surface treatment chemicals.