Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 86.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,089 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 13,783 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Westlake were worth $240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Westlake by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 557,943 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,832,000 after buying an additional 5,297 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Westlake by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,242,000 after purchasing an additional 4,088 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Westlake by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 236,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,098,000 after purchasing an additional 11,992 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Westlake by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after purchasing an additional 12,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Westlake by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $122.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $125.00 to $103.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.69.

Westlake Price Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $81.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.30, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $76.97 and a 1 year high of $161.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 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.