Koppers (NYSE:KOP) to Repurchase $100.00 million in Shares

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 27th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 16.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Koppers Stock Performance

NYSE KOP opened at $29.07 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $30.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.62. The company has a market cap of $589.12 million, a P/E ratio of 8.26 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Koppers has a 1-year low of $27.33 and a 1-year high of $58.23.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.18). Koppers had a return on equity of 16.71% and a net margin of 3.55%. The business had revenue of $477.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $497.00 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Koppers will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Koppers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is a boost from Koppers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KOP. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Koppers in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com raised Koppers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

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.