Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) Announces $0.46 Quarterly Dividend

Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 28th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 16th will be given a dividend of 0.455 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 15th.

Quaker Chemical has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. Quaker Chemical has a payout ratio of 17.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Quaker Chemical to earn $10.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.82 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.8%.

Quaker Chemical Stock Down 1.4 %

Quaker Chemical stock opened at $193.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.49. Quaker Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $138.67 and a fifty-two week high of $221.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $198.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.16.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Quaker Chemical during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 65.0% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 193 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 17.6% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 327 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Quaker Chemical in the second quarter valued at about $93,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Quaker Chemical by 30.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 754 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on KWR shares. StockNews.com raised Quaker Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Quaker Chemical from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th.

Quaker Chemical announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 28th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Quaker Chemical Company 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.