Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC Boosts Stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC increased its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WLK. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Westlake by 19.0% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 112,388 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $16,276,000 after acquiring an additional 17,916 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $101,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% in the 2nd 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. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Westlake by 9.4% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 30,684 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,444,000 after purchasing an additional 2,647 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WLK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.83.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $113.62 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $123.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.64. Westlake Co. has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $162.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 295.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Westlake Company 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.