The stock price of Quaker Houghton (NYSE: KWR) has surged by 2.62 when compared to previous closing price of 132.89, but the company has seen a 9.01% gain in its stock price over the last five trading sessions. marketbeat.com reported 2024-12-23 that The chemicals industry—companies creating chemicals used in industrial, commercial, and a variety of other applications—thrived for many years leading up to and including the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a recent report by McKinsey & Co. shows that the period since the end of the pandemic has brought a sharp reversal of this trend, with chemicals companies as a group achieving growth of under 2% per year since late 2022 while global indexes have increased 24% per year over the same period.
Is It Worth Investing in Quaker Houghton (NYSE: KWR) Right Now?
Quaker Houghton (NYSE: KWR) has a higher price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99x compared to its average ratio. KWR has 36-month beta value of 1.39. Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with 2 analysts rating it as a “buy,” 3 as “overweight,” 2 as “hold,” and 0 as “sell.”
The public float for KWR is 13.79M, and currently, short sellers hold a 12.23% ratio of that float. The average trading volume of KWR on January 20, 2025 was 132.92K shares.
KWR’s Market Performance
KWR’s stock has seen a 9.01% increase for the week, with a -9.73% drop in the past month and a -17.67% fall in the past quarter. The volatility ratio for the week is 2.55%, and the volatility levels for the past 30 days are at 3.01% for Quaker Houghton The simple moving average for the last 20 days is 0.04% for KWR stock, with a simple moving average of -18.87% for the last 200 days.
Analysts’ Opinion of KWR
Many brokerage firms have already submitted their reports for KWR stocks, with Piper Sandler repeating the rating for KWR by listing it as a “Neutral.” The predicted price for KWR in the upcoming period, according to Piper Sandler is $170 based on the research report published on January 07, 2025 of the current year 2025.
Piper Sandler, on the other hand, stated in their research note that they expect to see KWR reach a price target of $220. The rating they have provided for KWR stocks is “Overweight” according to the report published on May 16th, 2024.
Stifel gave a rating of “Buy” to KWR, setting the target price at $250 in the report published on June 02nd of the previous year.
KWR Trading at -9.98% from the 50-Day Moving Average
After a stumble in the market that brought KWR to its low price for the period of the last 52 weeks, the company was unable to rebound, for now settling with -34.38% of loss for the given period.
Volatility was left at 3.01%, however, over the last 30 days, the volatility rate increased by 2.55%, as shares sank -7.88% for the moving average over the last 20 days. Over the last 50 days, in opposition, the stock is trading -14.90% lower at present.
During the last 5 trading sessions, KWR rose by +9.01%, which changed the moving average for the period of 200-days by -31.86% in comparison to the 20-day moving average, which settled at $136.32. In addition, Quaker Houghton saw -3.12% in overturn over a single year, with a tendency to cut further losses.
Insider Trading
Reports are indicating that there were more than several insider trading activities at KWR starting from Slinkman David, who sale 1,700 shares at the price of $167.80 back on Nov 25 ’24. After this action, Slinkman David now owns 2,825 shares of Quaker Houghton, valued at $285,261 using the latest closing price.
Bijlani Jeewat, the EVP, Chief Strategy Officer of Quaker Houghton, sale 645 shares at $165.98 during a trade that took place back on Nov 22 ’24, which means that Bijlani Jeewat is holding 4,747 shares at $107,057 based on the most recent closing price.
Stock Fundamentals for KWR
Current profitability levels for the company are sitting at:
- 0.12 for the present operating margin
- 0.35 for the gross margin
The net margin for Quaker Houghton stands at 0.07. The total capital return value is set at 0.09. Equity return is now at value 8.77, with 4.47 for asset returns.
Based on Quaker Houghton (KWR), the company’s capital structure generated 0.34 points at debt to capital in total, while cash flow to debt ratio is standing at 0.29. The debt to equity ratio resting at 0.53. The interest coverage ratio of the stock is 4.84.
Currently, EBITDA for the company is 290.11 million with net debt to EBITDA at 1.8. When we switch over and look at the enterprise to sales, we see a ratio of 1.6. The receivables turnover for the company is 4.41for trailing twelve months and the total asset turnover is 0.68. The liquidity ratio also appears to be rather interesting for investors as it stands at 2.54.
Conclusion
To put it simply, Quaker Houghton (KWR) has had a bad performance in recent times. Analysts have a mixed opinion on the stock, with some rating it as a “buy” and others as a “hold”. It’s important to note that the stock is currently trading at a significant distance from its 50-day moving average and its 52-week high.
