Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

Westlake Chemical Partners Price Performance

Shares of Westlake Chemical Partners stock opened at $22.35 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.08. Westlake Chemical Partners has a 52 week low of $20.86 and a 52 week high of $23.68. The stock has a market cap of $787.39 million, a PE ratio of 14.51 and a beta of 1.08.

Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $297.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.62 million. Westlake Chemical Partners had a return on equity of 6.25% and a net margin of 4.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake Chemical Partners will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Chemical Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a $0.4714 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $1.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.44%. Westlake Chemical Partners’s payout ratio is 122.73%.

Insider Activity at Westlake Chemical Partners

In related news, SVP Andrew Kenner bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.30 per share, with a total value of $111,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 141,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,157,880.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders bought 19,230 shares of company stock valued at $426,437. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Westlake Chemical Partners by 4.4% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 595,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,944,000 after buying an additional 25,123 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in Westlake Chemical Partners by 9.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 537,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,685,000 after purchasing an additional 45,515 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Westlake Chemical Partners by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 351,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,269,000 after purchasing an additional 15,192 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Westlake Chemical Partners by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 137,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,984,000 after purchasing an additional 687 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Westlake Chemical Partners by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,806,000 after buying an additional 19,622 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Westlake Chemical Partners

Westlake Chemical Partners LP acquires, develops, and operates ethylene production facilities and related assets in the United States. The company's ethylene production facilities primarily convert ethane into ethylene. It also sells ethylene co-products, such as propylene, crude butadiene, pyrolysis gasoline, and hydrogen directly to third parties on either a spot or contract basis.