Van ECK Associates Corp Reduces Holdings in ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its holdings in ChampionX Co. (NASDAQ:CHX) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,429,572 shares of the company’s stock after selling 509,408 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 1.76% of ChampionX worth $100,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its position in ChampionX by 114.0% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 4,172,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,615,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,224 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in ChampionX by 20.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,238,000 after buying an additional 1,193,122 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in ChampionX by 136.8% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,022,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,420,000 after buying an additional 590,680 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in ChampionX by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,426,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,429,000 after acquiring an additional 538,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its position in shares of ChampionX by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 601,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,566,000 after acquiring an additional 204,640 shares during the last quarter. 98.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ChampionX Stock Performance

CHX traded down $0.19 on Tuesday, reaching $34.37. 592,516 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,033,629. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 2.44. ChampionX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.98 and a fifty-two week high of $39.95.

ChampionX (NASDAQ:CHX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $922.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $922.13 million. ChampionX had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 21.42%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ChampionX Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ChampionX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a dividend of $0.095 per share. This is a boost from ChampionX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. ChampionX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ChampionX

In related news, insider William Jr. O’dell sold 27,178 shares of ChampionX stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $978,408.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,078,928. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CHX. Barclays increased their target price on shares of ChampionX from $39.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of ChampionX from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on ChampionX from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.33.

About ChampionX

ChampionX Corporation provides chemistry solutions, artificial lift systems, and engineered equipment and technologies to oil and gas companies worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Production Chemical Technologies, Production & Automation Technologies, Drilling Technologies, and Reservoir Chemical Technologies.