Short Interest in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Grows By 30.5%

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,010,000 shares, a growth of 30.5% from the February 28th total of 1,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 687,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 6.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 732.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $113,865,000 after buying an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Westlake by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $379,933,000 after acquiring an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Westlake by 699.1% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,445,000 after acquiring an additional 520,669 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Westlake in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,630,000. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth $55,542,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:WLK traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $100.02. 465,955 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 544,071. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $109.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $12.83 billion, a PE ratio of 140.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake has a 1 year low of $97.37 and a 1 year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 45.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.21.

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.