Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases 9,341 Shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 61.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,498 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 9,341 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Westlake were worth $2,451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 557,943 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $63,832,000 after purchasing an additional 5,297 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 251.1% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 316 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 71.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 514 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Westlake by 4.6% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 12,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,226,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Westlake by 2.7% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 61,134 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $6,115,000 after buying an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group lowered 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. Citigroup increased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $117.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.77.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK traded up $3.86 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $85.87. 1,005,730 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 761,589. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The business's fifty day moving average is $77.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.26. Westlake Corp. has a one year low of $68.55 and a one year high of $153.34. The stock has a market cap of $11.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.04 and a beta of 0.91.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). The company 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 was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 payout ratio is 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.