SG Americas Securities LLC Cuts Stock Position in Westlake Corporation $WLK

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 87.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,939 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 47,566 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Huntington National Bank acquired a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 107.0% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Westlake by 54.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 567 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 640 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 989.6% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total transaction of $3,004,304.52. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 627,722 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,507.54. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WLK. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Mizuho set a $88.00 price objective on Westlake and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $83.00 target price (down previously from $91.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $78.00 target price on shares of Westlake and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.47.

Westlake Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $85.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.47, a PEG ratio of 43.67 and a beta of 0.91. Westlake Corporation has a 12-month low of $56.33 and a 12-month high of $119.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $73.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 0.78% and a negative net margin of 8.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th were issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 25th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -28.57%.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.