Faithward Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Faithward Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,419 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 474 shares during the quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 247.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Westlake by 1,668.2% during the 4th 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. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Westlake by 43.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 219 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.21.

Westlake Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE WLK opened at $86.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Westlake Co. has a 12 month low of $82.33 and a 12 month high of $162.64. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $107.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.98.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 45.36%.

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.