Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 349 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,288 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $2,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 64,811 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,071,000 after buying an additional 10,687 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 79.2% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 12,900 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,805,000 after buying an additional 5,700 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,492,000. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 66.8% in the third quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 119,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $14,883,000 after buying an additional 47,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,260 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WLK shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $134.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $138.00 to $174.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $138.00 to $174.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other Westlake news, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $560,371.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,144 shares in the company, valued at $3,055,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,804 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.02, for a total transaction of $677,460.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,389,052.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $560,371.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,658 shares of company stock worth $1,923,225 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of WLK opened at $147.36 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $147.71 and its 200 day moving average is $137.73. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $103.28 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.89 billion, a PE ratio of 39.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.37.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.09). Westlake had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 3.82%. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Westlake Profile

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.