Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Makes New $1.04 Million Investment in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought 14,210 Westlake shares worth approximately $1.04 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors own 28.4% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating, with an average price target of $93.92; targets range from $92 to $104, while Westlake shares recently traded near $75.
• Westlake exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.01 in EPS and $3.27 billion in revenue, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.533 per share, yielding about 2.8% annually.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,210 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $1,037,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WLK. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at $14,062,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Westlake in the second quarter valued at about $1,117,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Westlake by 53.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,715 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 17,689 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Westlake by 28.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 236,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $27,685,000 after purchasing an additional 52,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 4th quarter valued at about $798,000. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $127.00 to $104.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of Westlake from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 target price (up from $89.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $96.00 price target on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 642,880 shares in the company, valued at $51,610,406.40. This represents 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 hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Westlake Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE WLK opened at $75.11 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $76.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Westlake Corporation has a 52 week low of $56.33 and a 52 week high of $124.23. The company has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.84 and a beta of 0.63.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.24 billion. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.11) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Westlake Corporation will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.533 per share. This is an increase from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. Westlake's payout ratio is presently -22.23%.

Westlake Profile

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company's core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

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