Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) Short Interest Up 21.4% in January

Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,029,377 shares, an increase of 21.4% from the December 31st total of 848,204 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 136,926 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.5 days. Currently, 5.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Currently, 5.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 136,926 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Koppers

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Koppers during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Koppers in the third quarter worth $42,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Koppers by 258.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,930 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers by 95.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Koppers by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,235 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Koppers in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Zacks Research lowered Koppers from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Koppers from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Koppers Price Performance

KOP stock traded up $1.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.45. 75,987 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 127,851. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $616.73 million, a PE ratio of 39.29 and a beta of 1.40. Koppers has a 52 week low of $22.99 and a 52 week high of $35.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $485.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.50 million. Koppers had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 0.84%.Koppers’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Koppers has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.000-4.150 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Koppers will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.00%.

Koppers Company Profile

Koppers Company, Inc is a global specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer serving diverse industrial markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Carbon Materials & Chemicals, which produces a range of coal tar–based products, phenolic specialties and carbon compounds; and Railroad Products & Services, which offers wood treating and infrastructure services for rail and utility customers.

In its Carbon Materials & Chemicals segment, Koppers supplies coal tar pitch, refined creosote, coal tar?based distillates and phenolic resins used in aluminum smelting, graphite electrode manufacture, carbon fiber production, and water treatment applications.