NewMarket Co. (NYSE:NEU) Short Interest Update

NewMarket Co. (NYSE:NEU) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 107,200 shares, a decrease of 34.4% from the March 15th total of 163,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 48,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of NewMarket from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NewMarket

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NewMarket by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 731,312 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $386,389,000 after acquiring an additional 8,951 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NewMarket by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 198,065 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $104,648,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of NewMarket by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 170,218 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,938,000 after buying an additional 4,621 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NewMarket by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 124,387 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $65,741,000 after buying an additional 1,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in NewMarket by 54,160.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $58,398,000 after buying an additional 102,904 shares during the period. 61.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NewMarket Price Performance

NewMarket stock traded up $7.45 on Thursday, reaching $566.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,550. NewMarket has a twelve month low of $480.00 and a twelve month high of $596.89. The company has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.75. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $547.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $532.94.

NewMarket (NYSE:NEU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $11.56 EPS for the quarter. NewMarket had a net margin of 16.59% and a return on equity of 35.48%.

NewMarket Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $2.75 per share. This is an increase from NewMarket’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $11.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. NewMarket’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.82%.

About NewMarket

NewMarket Corporation, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the manufacture and sale of petroleum additives. The company offers lubricant additives for use in various vehicle and industrial applications, including engine oils, transmission fluids, off-road powertrain and hydraulic systems, gear oils, hydraulic oils, turbine oils, and other applications where metal-to-metal moving parts are utilized; engine oil additives designed for passenger cars, motorcycles, on and off-road heavy duty commercial equipment, locomotives, and engines in ocean-going vessels; driveline additives designed for products, such as transmission fluids, axle fluids, and off-road powertrain fluids; and industrial additives designed for products for industrial applications consisting of hydraulic fluids, grease, industrial gear fluids, and industrial specialty applications, such as turbine oils.