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

Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 28th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 16th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 15th.

Quaker Chemical has raised 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 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 Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of KWR stock opened at $193.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.95, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $198.96 and a 200-day moving average of $186.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Quaker Chemical has a 1-year low of $138.67 and a 1-year high of $221.94.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.11. Quaker Chemical had a return on equity of 10.22% and a net margin of 5.77%. The company had revenue of $467.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $470.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Quaker Chemical will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Quaker Chemical announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 28th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KWR. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 2.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 24,633 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,257,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 133,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $23,111,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 30.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 754 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 54.2% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 7,035 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 21.4% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,014 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KWR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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 target price 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 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.