Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Acquired by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC grew its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 40.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,410 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,988 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the first quarter worth about $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 purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth about $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised 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 purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WLK. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Westlake in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.92.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $139.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.99, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $143.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.14. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.77 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 100.96%.

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.