Investors Research Corp Has $466,000 Position in Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP)

Investors Research Corp reduced its stake in Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in Koppers were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Koppers by 122.1% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,006 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Koppers in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Koppers by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,176 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Koppers in the 3rd quarter worth $88,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Koppers by 301.0% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,398 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. 92.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Koppers news, COO James A. Sullivan sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.01, for a total value of $37,807.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $6,005,479.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Koppers news, COO James A. Sullivan sold 700 shares of Koppers stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.01, for a total transaction of $37,807.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $6,005,479.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO M Leroy Ball sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.51, for a total value of $267,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 323,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,288,010.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,591 shares of company stock valued at $1,700,094 in the last 90 days. 6.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Koppers Stock Up 1.2 %

Koppers stock opened at $55.72 on Tuesday. Koppers Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.45 and a 52-week high of $58.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 2.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43 and a beta of 1.86.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.05). Koppers had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 4.14%. The company had revenue of $513.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.67 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Koppers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from Koppers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Koppers’s payout ratio is 6.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on KOP shares. StockNews.com lowered Koppers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Koppers in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Singular Research upgraded Koppers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $67.50 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.50.

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.