Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Has $2.24 Million Position in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Westlake Corp. by 47.8% in the first quarter, holding now 22,364 shares valued at approximately $2.24 million.
• Institutional investors own 28.40% of Westlake's stock, with significant increases in holdings reported by firms like Sei Investments Co., which grew its stake by 96.9% in the last quarter.
• Westlake recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, resulting in an annual yield of 2.45%, with a payout ratio of 70.47%.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 47.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,364 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 20,483 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Westlake were worth $2,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Westlake by 96.9% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 7,827 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 3,851 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,364,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 25,928 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,973,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Westlake by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $117.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $122.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $101.00 to $99.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.77.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK stock opened at $85.81 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $77.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 20.29 and a beta of 0.91. Westlake Corp. has a 12 month low of $68.55 and a 12 month high of $153.34.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.47%.

About Westlake

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.

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