MFA Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $217,000 in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,171 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 732.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $113,865,000 after purchasing an additional 873,888 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Westlake by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,630,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Westlake by 56.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 827,516 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $94,875,000 after buying an additional 299,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Westlake by 348.8% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 364,274 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,327,000 after buying an additional 283,100 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Westlake Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $73.30 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.96. The company has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.91. Westlake Corp. has a 12 month low of $68.55 and a 12 month high of $153.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 4.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Westlake’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Westlake from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets set a $94.00 price target on Westlake and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Westlake from $118.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.85.

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.