Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys 175,306 Shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 46.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 551,766 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 175,306 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.43% of Westlake worth $55,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 14,742 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV boosted its position in Westlake by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 4,877 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 33.9% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,007 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on WLK shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $118.00 to $101.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Westlake from $100.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.85.

Westlake Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE WLK traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $81.11. 707,564 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 735,767. Westlake Corp. has a 12-month low of $68.55 and a 12-month high of $153.34. The firm has a market cap of $10.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a current ratio of 2.63.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 4.19% and a net margin of 3.23%. The firm's revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Westlake's payout ratio is 70.47%.

Westlake Company Profile

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.