Bank of America Corp DE Purchases New Stake in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Key Points

• Bank of America acquired 232,213 Westlake shares worth approximately $16.95 million, giving it a 0.18% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 28.4% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with four Buy, ten Hold and one Sell rating; Westlake has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $93.79.
• Westlake’s shares opened at $66.87, near the lower end of their 52-week range, despite the company beating quarterly EPS and revenue estimates. The company also raised its quarterly dividend slightly to $0.533 per share, representing a 3.2% yield.

Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 232,213 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $16,952,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.18% of Westlake as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Westlake by 133.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 219.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 955 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 14.0% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 109.9% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,553 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the first quarter worth $224,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WLK. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research raised Westlake from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. KeyCorp began coverage on Westlake in a research note on Friday, September 11th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $92.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Westlake from $127.00 to $104.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.79.

Insider Activity

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value of $3,120,724.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 642,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at $51,610,406.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $66.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of -6.98 and a beta of 0.63. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $74.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.45. Westlake Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.18. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.11) earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a $0.5330 dividend. This is a positive change from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.23%.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company produces chemicals, polymers and building products used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, consumer goods and other industrial applications.

Its Performance and Essential Materials businesses manufacture products such as chlor-alkali chemicals, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene, epoxy resins and related specialty materials.

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