Villanova Investment Management Co LLC Cuts Stake in Koppers Holdings Inc. $KOP

Villanova Investment Management Co LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) by 63.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,277 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 31,452 shares during the period. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC’s holdings in Koppers were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KOP. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Koppers by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 248,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $8,061,000 after buying an additional 28,425 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Koppers by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 76,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,473,000 after acquiring an additional 2,328 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Koppers by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 12,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 2,281 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Koppers by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 24,031 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Koppers by 579.8% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 62,355 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,020,000 after acquiring an additional 53,182 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on KOP. Barrington Research lowered their target price on shares of Koppers from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (down previously from $55.00) on shares of Koppers in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Koppers from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.50.

Koppers Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KOP opened at $27.58 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.74. The stock has a market cap of $543.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Koppers Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.99 and a 12 month high of $39.83.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $504.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $540.30 million. Koppers had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 0.76%.The firm’s revenue was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. Koppers has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.000-4.600 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Koppers’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

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.