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

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 11,881 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,867% compared to the typical daily volume of 604 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on WLK shares. Bank of America raised Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.85.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE WLK traded up $1.78 on Monday, hitting $111.82. 242,407 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 549,106. The business’s fifty day moving average is $122.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.60. Westlake has a 12 month low of $108.95 and a 12 month high of $162.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.49, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 295.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. This represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter worth $27,179,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Westlake by 89.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,400,000 after purchasing an additional 20,913 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Westlake by 4.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Westlake by 134.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Westlake by 15.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,085 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $7,377,000 after purchasing an additional 6,476 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.