Closing Out Western Refining Open Trade
It is time to close out the open 30 Day Dividends position in Western Refining (NYSE:WNR). Frankly, I missed the better exit when the share price went above $47 in early October. I was holding out for the $48 target price. The announcement on October 16 of a 12% dividend increase did not boost the share price. WNR goes ex-dividend today, so the $0.38 dividend will be included in the total return for the trade.
Refining fundamentals are rapidly eroding. Since the second half of September, my self-tracked national crack spread has reduced by half. It looks like Q4 will be a tough one for refiners. As I have noted in the past, refining is a cyclical business and we have made a couple of nice profits in WNR this year. This last one will be just above break even.
Recommendation, close any open positions in WNR to lock in a small profit.