Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Koppers (NYSE:KOP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday.

Separately, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of Koppers in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Koppers Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE KOP opened at $28.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.35 million, a P/E ratio of 8.06 and a beta of 1.74. Koppers has a one year low of $27.00 and a one year high of $56.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.14.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.18). Koppers had a return on equity of 16.71% and a net margin of 3.55%. The business had revenue of $477.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $497.00 million. As a group, analysts expect that Koppers will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Koppers declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 27th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to repurchase up to 16.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Koppers Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from Koppers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Koppers’s payout ratio is presently 13.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Koppers

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of KOP. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Koppers by 20.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 568,787 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $20,778,000 after purchasing an additional 97,586 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Koppers by 36.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Koppers by 83.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,204 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Koppers by 137.9% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 102,586 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,747,000 after purchasing an additional 59,460 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Koppers by 31.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 44,349 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,620,000 after purchasing an additional 10,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.75% of the company’s stock.

Koppers Company Profile

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.