Engineers Gate Manager LP Grows Stock Holdings in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its Westlake stake by 67.8% in the second quarter, holding 71,301 shares worth approximately $5.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 28.4% of Westlake.
• Analysts maintain a mixed outlook, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $93.79, versus shares recently trading near $70.77.
• Westlake exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while raising its quarterly dividend slightly to $0.533 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of about 3.0%.

Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 67.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,802 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP owned 0.06% of Westlake worth $5,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 90.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 38,687 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,869,000 after acquiring an additional 18,321 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Westlake by 9.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Westlake during the first quarter worth approximately $211,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Westlake by 43.6% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,350 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,788 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Westlake in a research report on Friday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $92.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up from $89.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $89.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.79.

Westlake Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of WLK opened at $70.77 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $75.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 0.63. Westlake Corporation has a 12-month low of $56.33 and a 12-month high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.11) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect 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 was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a $0.533 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This is a positive change from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.23%.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In related news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value of $3,120,724.44. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 642,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at $51,610,406.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Westlake Company Profile

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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