Millennium Management LLC Increases Stake in Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR)

Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) by 34.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,017 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 24,466 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned approximately 0.53% of Quaker Chemical worth $16,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Quaker Chemical during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in shares of Quaker Chemical in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Quaker Chemical during the first quarter worth about $41,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical by 36.8% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 286 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Quaker Chemical in the second quarter valued at approximately $136,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on KWR. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Quaker Chemical from $220.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Quaker Chemical from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Quaker Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday.

Quaker Chemical Stock Up 2.8 %

KWR stock opened at $164.97 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $165.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.88. Quaker Chemical Co. has a twelve month low of $138.67 and a twelve month high of $221.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.37.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.08). Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $463.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $493.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 17th will be issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. This is a boost from Quaker Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 17th. Quaker Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

About Quaker Chemical

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.