SG Americas Securities LLC Cuts Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 42.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,560 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 42,567 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Westlake were worth $5,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Westlake by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 14,742 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 4,877 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 33.9% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Westlake by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,007 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,292,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Westlake from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Westlake from $122.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Westlake from $100.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 price target (down from $95.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.85.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $76.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,055,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 709,287. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $68.55 and a one year high of $153.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of 107.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.91.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Westlake's payout ratio is currently 70.47%.

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.