Tidal Investments LLC Has $5.55 Million Holdings in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Key Points

• Tidal Investments increased its Westlake stake by 59% in the second quarter, holding 76,055 shares valued at approximately $5.55 million. Institutional investors collectively own 28.4% of WLK.
• Analysts remain cautious, with Westlake carrying a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $93.79. Ratings range from Sell to Buy, with recent targets between $85 and $117.
• Westlake exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.01 EPS and $3.27 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.533 per share, implying an annualized yield of about 3%.

Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 59.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,055 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 28,235 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC owned about 0.06% of Westlake worth $5,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 90.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 38,687 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,869,000 after purchasing an additional 18,321 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 9.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,881,000 after buying an additional 1,668 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Westlake during the first quarter worth approximately $211,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Westlake by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,350 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Westlake by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,788 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Westlake from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price objective (down from $130.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $85.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.79.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,610,406.40. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK stock opened at $70.77 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.24. Westlake Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.24 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The company's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.11) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Westlake Corporation will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.533 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is presently -22.23%.

Westlake 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.