Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Acquired by Millennium Management LLC

Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 122.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 193,087 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 106,329 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.15% of Westlake worth $22,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 732.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $113,865,000 after purchasing an additional 873,888 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Westlake by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 934,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $107,092,000 after purchasing an additional 43,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 882,474 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $101,175,000 after buying an additional 47,732 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $76.00 price target (down from $95.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $122.00 to $96.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. 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 research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $103.54.

Westlake Trading Down 1.0%

WLK stock traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $71.64. The stock had a trading volume of 979,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 639,146. The company's 50-day moving average price is $88.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a PE ratio of 100.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $70.28 and a 12-month high of $161.31.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Westlake's payout ratio is currently 70.47%.

Westlake Company 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.