Kestra Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth about $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at about $101,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WLK shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $227,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,239,420. This represents a 15.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Westlake Stock Down 0.1 %

WLK opened at $128.40 on Monday. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $118.64 and a one year high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 180.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.54.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 295.77%.

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.