Rhumbline Advisers Purchases 2,383 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,439 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.08% of Westlake worth $10,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Westlake by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 14,742 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its holdings in Westlake by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 4,877 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 33.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Westlake by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,007 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Westlake by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WLK. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.85.

Westlake Trading Up 3.1%

NYSE:WLK opened at $75.86 on Tuesday. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $68.55 and a 52 week high of $156.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.01 and a 200 day moving average of $102.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.85, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.91.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results 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 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. 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 previous year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 70.47%.

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.