Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Koppers (NYSE:KOP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Singular Research raised Koppers to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Koppers in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Koppers from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Koppers Stock Performance

NYSE KOP opened at $47.20 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.99. The stock has a market cap of $892.55 million, a PE ratio of -10.00, a PEG ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.25. Koppers has a fifty-two week low of $25.00 and a fifty-two week high of $53.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.25. Koppers had a positive return on equity of 14.98% and a negative net margin of 4.59%.The company had revenue of $520.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $506.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. Koppers’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Koppers has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-4.200 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Koppers will post 4.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio is -7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Koppers news, SVP Stephen G. Lucas sold 1,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.55, for a total transaction of $58,271.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 34,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,530,069.75. This represents a 3.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider James A. Sullivan sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $4,000,800.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,398 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,803.98. This trade represents a 46.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 94,220 shares of company stock worth $4,685,878 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 7.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KOP. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Koppers in the 2nd quarter worth about $50,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Koppers during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,294,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Koppers during the 2nd quarter valued at about $413,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Koppers during the second quarter worth approximately $504,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Koppers during the second quarter worth approximately $430,000. 92.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.