Raymond James & Associates Purchases 304 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,420 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Westlake were worth $2,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Westlake by 2.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,589 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 56,343 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $8,609,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 5,019 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,037 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,284,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Down 0.5 %

WLK stock opened at $131.48 on Tuesday. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $118.64 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $141.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.62. 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 company has a market capitalization of $16.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.19.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results 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. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WLK. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.92.

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.