Rhumbline Advisers Sells 781 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Rhumbline Advisers cut its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,868 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 781 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.08% of Westlake worth $11,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 39.9% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 638 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in Westlake by 12,680.0% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 639 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Westlake from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Westlake from $127.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Tudor Pickering lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $129.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.67.

Westlake Stock Up 1.3 %

WLK stock opened at $132.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $128.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Westlake Co. has a twelve month low of $81.29 and a twelve month high of $138.39.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $3.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.50 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 12.44%. The company’s revenue was down 27.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be issued a $0.357 dividend. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 24th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 19.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.00, for a total transaction of $131,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,329,388. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corporation manufactures and markets performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products in the United States, Canada, Germany, China, Italy, Taiwan, and internationally. The Performance and Essential Materials segment offers polyethylene, styrene monomer, ethylene co-products, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride monomer, ethylene dichloride chlor-alkali, chlorinated derivative products, and epoxy resins.