JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 1,909 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 1.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 113,553 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,909 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Westlake were worth $17,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WLK. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 40,613 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,104,000 after purchasing an additional 940 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Westlake by 31.7% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,855 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,837,000 after buying an additional 23,558 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In related news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $110.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 154.97, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $122.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.03. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $108.95 and a 1-year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.92.

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.