Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Shares Up 3.8% - Here's What Happened

Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP - Get Free Report) rose 3.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $31.13 and last traded at $31.16. Approximately 76,207 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 138,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KOP has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Koppers from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of Koppers in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Koppers Trading Down 5.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $575.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.74. The business's 50 day moving average price is $30.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.54.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.18). Koppers had a net margin of 3.55% and a return on equity of 16.71%. The company had revenue of $477.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $497.00 million. Equities analysts expect that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

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Koppers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This is a boost from Koppers's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Koppers's dividend payout ratio is 13.17%.

Koppers declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 27th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KOP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,237,486 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $40,094,000 after acquiring an additional 8,111 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 908,772 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $29,444,000 after acquiring an additional 138,603 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 632,862 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $20,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers by 20.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 568,787 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $20,778,000 after acquiring an additional 97,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Koppers by 5.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 424,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $15,521,000 after acquiring an additional 20,586 shares in the last quarter. 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.