Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

KWR has been the topic of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Quaker Chemical from $190.00 to $182.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Quaker Chemical from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

Quaker Chemical Price Performance

KWR opened at $169.95 on Thursday. Quaker Chemical has a one year low of $151.31 and a one year high of $221.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.38.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.08 by ($0.19). Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 6.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $462.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.17 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. Quaker Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Quaker Chemical will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quaker Chemical

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KWR. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Quaker Chemical by 22.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,072 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,120,000 after acquiring an additional 3,632 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Quaker Chemical in the first quarter worth $25,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Quaker Chemical in the first quarter worth $706,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 12,120 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 3.1% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 7,983 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. 77.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.