Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Purchased by Alyeska Investment Group L.P.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 113.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 105,201 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 56,017 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned about 0.08% of Westlake worth $12,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WLK. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Westlake by 247.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 1,668.2% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Westlake by 72.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 84.4% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Westlake from $132.00 to $117.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $105.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Westlake from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.92.

Westlake Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of WLK traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $80.05. The company had a trading volume of 867,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 596,899. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $76.97 and a fifty-two week high of $161.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.21. The stock has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. 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.