Westlake Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:WLK)

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 12,306 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,726% compared to the typical volume of 674 put options.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $444,610,000 after buying an additional 21,293 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,933,000 after buying an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,154,000 after buying an additional 9,838 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Westlake by 732.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $113,865,000 after purchasing an additional 873,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Westlake by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $112,711,000 after purchasing an additional 58,093 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $101.18 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.97 billion, a PE ratio of 142.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake has a fifty-two week low of $99.37 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 45.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on WLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.07.

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.