Insider Selling: Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Director Sells 1,750 Shares of Stock

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $227,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,239,420. The trade was a 15.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Westlake Trading Up 0.3 %

WLK opened at $128.55 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $137.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.05. The company has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.06, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.19. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $118.64 and a 52 week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 295.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WLK. State Street Corp boosted its position in Westlake by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $180,154,000 after acquiring an additional 9,838 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Westlake by 699.1% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,445,000 after purchasing an additional 520,669 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Westlake by 4.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Westlake by 90.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 386,480 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,084,000 after purchasing an additional 183,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the third quarter valued at about $55,542,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upgraded Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.17.

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.