Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Holdings Trimmed by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 45.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 249,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 205,845 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $28,554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $444,610,000 after buying an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $379,933,000 after buying an additional 574,068 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 732.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $113,865,000 after buying an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $112,711,000 after buying an additional 58,093 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 934,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $107,092,000 after buying an additional 43,544 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WLK. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $125.00 to $103.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $132.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.69.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK opened at $81.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 115.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $76.97 and a one year high of $161.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.66.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.47%.

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.