Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC Acquires 510 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 43.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC grew 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 worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the second quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the third quarter worth about $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on WLK shares. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In related news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK stock opened at $113.62 on Tuesday. 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 50 day moving average price of $123.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.64. Westlake Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $162.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced 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). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 295.77%.

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.