Traders Purchase High Volume of Westlake Put Options (NYSE:WLK)

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 19,461 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 4,436% compared to the typical daily volume of 429 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WLK. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Westlake by 2.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,589 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 56,343 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $8,609,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Westlake by 8.3% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in Westlake by 1.0% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,037 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,284,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP lifted its stake in Westlake by 214.2% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 14,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 9,728 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WLK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.92.

Westlake Trading Up 3.5 %

WLK stock opened at $137.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $140.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.30. Westlake has a one year low of $118.64 and a one year high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.96%.

Westlake Company 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.