Two Sigma Investments LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Two Sigma Investments LP trimmed its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,320 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 37,289 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP owned 0.08% of Westlake worth $11,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Westlake by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $444,610,000 after acquiring an additional 21,293 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Westlake by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in 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 valued at $113,865,000 after purchasing an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Westlake by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $112,711,000 after purchasing an additional 58,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Westlake by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 934,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $107,092,000 after purchasing an additional 43,544 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Westlake and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.54.

Westlake Trading Up 1.0%

WLK traded up $0.70 on Thursday, reaching $71.26. 155,986 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 642,593. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $70.28 and a one year high of $161.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.36. The company has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Westlake's payout ratio is 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.