Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 17.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 586,178 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 3.04% of Westlake worth $390,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Westlake by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 236,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $27,098,000 after purchasing an additional 11,992 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,411,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Westlake by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
WLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets set a $94.00 target price on shares of Westlake and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.77.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Westlake
Westlake Stock Down 2.5%
NYSE:WLK traded down $2.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $81.37. The company had a trading volume of 863,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,874. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Westlake Corp. has a 1 year low of $68.55 and a 1 year high of $153.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a PEG ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.91.
Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 4.19% and a net margin of 3.23%. Westlake's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Westlake Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.47%.
Westlake Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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