Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Acquires 7,382 Shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 39.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,171 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 7,382 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Westlake were worth $2,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Westlake by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 14,742 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 4,877 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 33.9% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,007 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,292,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on WLK. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $95.00) on shares of Westlake in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.54.

Westlake Stock Performance

Westlake stock traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $76.14. 874,160 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 721,314. Westlake Corp. has a 12 month low of $68.55 and a 12 month high of $153.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The business has a 50 day moving average of $79.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 0.91.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share 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 net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 4.19%. Westlake's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is 70.47%.

Westlake Company 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.