Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Has $568,000 Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 30.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,954 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,217 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $568,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WLK. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 13,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 72.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Westlake by 84.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 2.4% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 40,613 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,104,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Westlake by 31.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,855 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WLK. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.85.

Westlake Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $117.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.17 billion, a PE ratio of 166.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $108.95 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $120.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.42.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.20 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.