First Trust Advisors LP Trims Stake in Westlake Chemical Co. (NYSE:WLK)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Westlake Chemical Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 29.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,430 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 34,448 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.07% of Westlake Chemical worth $3,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WLK. Smithfield Trust Co. grew its position in Westlake Chemical by 87.5% during the first quarter. Smithfield Trust Co. now owns 1,594 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Westlake Chemical during the first quarter worth about $83,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in Westlake Chemical by 60.0% during the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 2,400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Westlake Chemical during the fourth quarter worth about $236,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Westlake Chemical during the fourth quarter worth about $236,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.67% of the company’s stock.

In other Westlake Chemical news, EVP Roger L. Kearns purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.89 per share, with a total value of $149,450.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,155.36. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ttwfgp Llc bought 145,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.03 per share, with a total value of $5,659,350.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 780,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,813,300 in the last ninety days. 73.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Tudor Pickering upgraded Westlake Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Westlake Chemical from $69.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. SunTrust Banks cut their price objective on Westlake Chemical from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Westlake Chemical in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Westlake Chemical from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Westlake Chemical presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.17.

NYSE WLK opened at $46.60 on Wednesday. Westlake Chemical Co. has a 1-year low of $28.99 and a 1-year high of $75.65. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.55 and a 200-day moving average of $56.37. The firm has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 1.67.

Westlake Chemical (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Westlake Chemical had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 6.16%. Westlake Chemical’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Chemical Co. will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be given a dividend of $0.2625 per share. This represents a $1.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. Westlake Chemical’s payout ratio is 32.21%.

Westlake Chemical Company Profile

Westlake Chemical Corporation manufactures and markets basic chemicals, vinyls, polymers, and building products worldwide. It operates through two segments, Olefins and Vinyls. The Olefins segment offers polyethylene, styrene monomers, and various ethylene co-products, as well as sells propylene, crude butadiene, pyrolysis gasoline, and hydrogen products.

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