Gries Financial LLC Buys Shares of 13,512 Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

Gries Financial LLC bought a new position in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,512 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $1,352,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WLK. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Westlake by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,877 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,507 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Westlake by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 15,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,824,000 after acquiring an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Westlake by 96.9% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 7,827 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $897,000 after acquiring an additional 3,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,364,000. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.77.

Westlake Stock Performance

Westlake stock traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $82.09. 698,204 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 758,898. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.53. Westlake Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $68.55 and a fifty-two week high of $153.34. The stock has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.86.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 4.19%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.47%.

Westlake 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.