Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Bought by Faithward Advisors LLC

Faithward Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm 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.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted 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 period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 1,668.2% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 43.2% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Westlake by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $166.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.21.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK opened at $86.18 on Tuesday. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $82.33 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.98. The company has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.38, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.36%.

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.