Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 655 Shares of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) by 5.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,038 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Koppers were worth $444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KOP. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Koppers by 128.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 60,542 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,212,000 after acquiring an additional 34,074 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Koppers by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 424,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $15,521,000 after purchasing an additional 20,586 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Koppers in the second quarter worth about $700,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $20,778,000 after buying an additional 97,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Koppers in the 3rd quarter worth $4,022,000. Institutional investors own 92.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Koppers

In other Koppers news, Director Stephen R. Tritch sold 3,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.08, for a total value of $131,003.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 47,737 shares in the company, valued at $1,770,087.96. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO M Leroy Ball sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.26, for a total transaction of $223,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,711,749.50. The trade was a 1.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,533 shares of company stock worth $544,164 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on KOP. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Koppers in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com raised Koppers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Singular Research raised shares of Koppers to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Koppers Stock Performance

KOP opened at $32.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $656.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.48 and a 200 day moving average of $36.70. 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 Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.64 and a fifty-two week high of $58.23.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $554.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $571.80 million. Koppers had a return on equity of 16.71% and a net margin of 3.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Koppers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio is 7.95%.

About Koppers

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.