Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP Takes $55.54 Million Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 369,564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,542,000. Westlake comprises 3.7% of Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 699.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,445,000 after purchasing an additional 520,669 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 84.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 201,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $30,269,000 after buying an additional 91,973 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Westlake during the third quarter worth about $2,193,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Westlake in the third quarter valued at about $1,580,000. Finally, Centiva Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 57.6% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 8,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 3,209 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WLK. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.17.

Westlake Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE WLK traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $127.84. 75,914 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 446,470. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a PE ratio of 181.24, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $118.64 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.27.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The business 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%. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.20 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

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

Westlake Company 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.