Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Westlake (NYSE:WLK)

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 19,461 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 4,436% compared to the typical daily volume of 429 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 1st quarter worth $43,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Westlake by 66.7% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WLK shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America raised Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.92.

Westlake Stock Performance

WLK stock opened at $137.13 on Thursday. Westlake has a twelve month low of $118.64 and a twelve month high of $162.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $140.71 and its 200-day moving average is $146.30.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 100.96%.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation engages in the manufacture and marketing of performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products in the United States, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Taiwan, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Performance and Essential Materials and Housing and Infrastructure Products.