Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Sells 95 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. cut its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 0.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Westlake by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,311,836 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $183,605,000 after purchasing an additional 675,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at $50,961,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 460.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 85,008 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,898,000 after acquiring an additional 69,838 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,142,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $159,917,000 after acquiring an additional 66,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,492,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Vertical Research downgraded Westlake from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 14th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.19, for a total transaction of $753,340.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,141,779.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of Westlake stock traded down $1.87 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $143.14. The company had a trading volume of 131,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 425,575. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.29. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $112.77 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.20.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.25. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.69% and a net margin of 2.13%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently 100.50%.

Westlake 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.