Versant Capital Management Inc Has $61,000 Stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 84.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 243 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Westlake were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth $544,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Westlake by 19.0% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 112,388 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $16,276,000 after purchasing an additional 17,916 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake during the second quarter worth about $101,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Westlake by 8,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on WLK shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target 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 given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

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

Westlake Trading Down 0.1 %

WLK opened at $111.98 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $14.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $124.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

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.