APG Asset Management N.V. Grows Stock Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 189.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,651 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in Westlake were worth $764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AXA S.A. purchased a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth about $523,000. Merewether Investment Management LP increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 223,366 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,348,000 after acquiring an additional 33,100 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,658,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 62.5% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 7,374 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,540,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WLK. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Westlake from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $174.00 in a report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.50.

Westlake Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE WLK opened at $148.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.86, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $143.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $112.77 and a 52 week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.53%.

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.