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

Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 61.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,498 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,341 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Westlake were worth $2,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Westlake by 732.7% in 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Westlake in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,630,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 56.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 827,516 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $94,875,000 after buying an additional 299,597 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Westlake by 348.8% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 364,274 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,327,000 after purchasing an additional 283,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 4th quarter worth $25,026,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $101.00 to $99.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $122.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.77.

Westlake Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:WLK traded down $2.06 on Friday, hitting $81.37. The company had a trading volume of 863,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 759,141. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $77.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.65. Westlake Corp. has a 1 year low of $68.55 and a 1 year high of $153.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a P/E/G ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 0.91.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Westlake had a return on equity of 4.19% and a net margin of 3.23%. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.47%.

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.