Westlake Corp. $WLK Shares Sold by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Westlake Corp. by 3.4%, now owning 112,945 shares valued at $11.30 million according to the recent 13F filing.
• Westlake Corp. experienced a 1.8% increase in stock price, with shares opening at $87.95 following a quarterly report that showed a miss on earnings expectations.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $0.53 per share, up from $0.47, indicating a 2.4% yield for shareholders.

Raymond James Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,945 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 4,028 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of Westlake worth $11,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WLK. 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 acquiring an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Westlake during the 1st quarter worth $72,974,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Westlake by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $390,120,000 after purchasing an additional 586,178 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,026,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 3,182.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 219,030 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $25,112,000 after buying an additional 212,357 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WLK. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Westlake from $101.00 to $99.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $117.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.29.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK stock traded up $2.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $87.24. 403,071 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,033,462. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $82.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.47. Westlake Corp. has a 12-month low of $68.55 and a 12-month high of $151.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -164.57 and a beta of 0.92.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 0.57% and a positive return on equity of 1.26%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This is an increase from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is currently -400.00%.

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.