Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) Stake Lifted by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,996 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 315 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Westlake worth $7,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Westlake by 732.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 58,093 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 934,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $107,092,000 after purchasing an additional 43,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 882,474 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $101,175,000 after acquiring an additional 47,732 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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. BMO Capital Markets set a $94.00 price target on shares of Westlake and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Westlake from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.77.

Westlake Stock Down 1.8%

NYSE WLK opened at $81.84 on Wednesday. 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 Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $68.55 and a fifty-two week high of $153.34. The stock has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $77.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.32.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 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.