Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Has $94,000 Stock Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lessened its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 16.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 808 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $94,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WLK. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Westlake during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Westlake by 39.9% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Westlake by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in Westlake by 12,680.0% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 639 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WLK. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Westlake from $144.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Westlake from $125.00 to $127.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Tudor Pickering downgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Westlake from $127.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.67.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $132.70 on Monday. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $81.29 and a one year high of $138.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.95 and a quick ratio of 2.17.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.00, for a total value of $131,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,329,388. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Westlake 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.