Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Reaches New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Shares of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $33.73 and last traded at $33.78, with a volume of 137252 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.61.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KOP. Singular Research raised shares of Koppers to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Koppers in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Koppers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

Koppers Stock Up 0.1 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.60. The company has a market cap of $685.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $554.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $571.80 million. Koppers had a net margin of 3.55% and a return on equity of 16.71%. The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO M Leroy Ball sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total value of $189,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 315,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,949,691.68. This trade represents a 1.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen R. Tritch sold 3,533 shares of Koppers stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.08, for a total transaction of $131,003.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 47,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,770,087.96. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,533 shares of company stock valued at $544,164 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Koppers

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Koppers by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,187,926 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $43,942,000 after acquiring an additional 18,469 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 91.8% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 770,169 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,134,000 after acquiring an additional 368,709 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Koppers by 20.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 568,787 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $20,778,000 after acquiring an additional 97,586 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Koppers by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 424,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $15,521,000 after buying an additional 20,586 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Koppers by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 221,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $8,182,000 after buying an additional 3,402 shares during the period. 92.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Koppers

Koppers Holdings Inc provides treated wood products, wood preservation chemicals, and carbon compounds in the United States, Australasia, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Railroad and Utility Products and Services (RUPS), Performance Chemicals (PC), and Carbon Materials and Chemicals (CMC) segments.