Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Acquired by Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 1,615.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,368 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,248 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in Westlake were worth $4,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 247.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 6,316.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 1,668.2% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 72.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Westlake by 84.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Westlake from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $118.08.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE WLK traded down $1.48 on Monday, reaching $78.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,848,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,749. The business's 50-day moving average price is $97.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $78.23 and a 12-month high of $161.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.