US Bancorp DE Buys 267 Shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,295 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Westlake were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 17.7% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $390,120,000 after buying an additional 586,178 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position 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 valued at $113,865,000 after buying an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 6.3% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 valued at $107,092,000 after buying an additional 43,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position 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 valued at $101,175,000 after buying an additional 47,732 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Westlake Price Performance

Westlake stock opened at $85.70 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.47. Westlake Corp. has a one year low of $68.55 and a one year high of $153.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a PE ratio of -161.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 111.18 and a beta of 0.92.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.15). Westlake had a positive return on equity of 1.26% and a negative net margin of 0.57%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. Westlake’s revenue was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is -396.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WLK. Citigroup raised their price objective on Westlake from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Westlake from $101.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Westlake from $117.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.29.

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.