Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Decreases Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt cut its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 9.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,350 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Westlake by 150.0% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 470 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Westlake by 39.9% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 638 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Westlake Price Performance

Westlake stock opened at $127.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.72. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $81.29 and a 12-month high of $138.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.95, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

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

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 25th were given a $0.357 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on WLK. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $123.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $127.67.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,000 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.00, for a total value of $131,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,148 shares in the company, valued at $1,329,388. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 74.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Westlake

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.