AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 3,929 Shares of Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR) by 152.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,511 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,929 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Quaker Chemical were worth $1,105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KWR. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Quaker Chemical by 36.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 286 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 1.4% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 7,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Bridge City Capital LLC increased its position in Quaker Chemical by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 13,721 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in shares of Quaker Chemical during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KWR. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Quaker Chemical from $220.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Quaker Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Quaker Chemical from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th.

Quaker Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KWR opened at $161.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.59. Quaker Chemical Co. has a twelve month low of $138.67 and a twelve month high of $221.94.

Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR) last announced its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $463.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $493.68 million. Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 10.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Chemical Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.485 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. This is a positive change from Quaker Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Quaker Chemical’s payout ratio is 26.45%.

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.