Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $138.72 Million Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,161,141 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 26,253 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 0.91% of Westlake worth $138,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Westlake during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Westlake during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Westlake by 150.0% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 470 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $127.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 74.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Westlake Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WLK traded down $0.98 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $126.15. The stock had a trading volume of 54,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 505,434. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $130.24 and its 200 day moving average is $119.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.95. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $81.29 and a 52 week high of $138.39. The stock has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 1.31.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 8.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 25th were paid a dividend of $0.357 per share. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 24th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

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.