3,609 Shares in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Bought by Axa S.A.

Axa S.A. purchased a new stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,609 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake in the first quarter valued at $43,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Westlake during the second quarter worth approximately $66,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at $101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on WLK. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Westlake from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.50.

Westlake Stock Performance

WLK opened at $148.98 on Wednesday. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $112.77 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The stock has a market cap of $19.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. Westlake’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently 105.53%.

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.