Westlake Corporation $WLK Shares Purchased by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 61.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 117,151 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,525 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Westlake worth $9,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Westlake by 54.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 567 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in Westlake by 989.6% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 180.3% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 740 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Westlake by 49.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Westlake from $92.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Zacks Research raised Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Alembic Global Advisors set a $80.00 price objective on Westlake in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Westlake from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.80.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $105.59 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $13.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.02, a P/E/G ratio of 42.79 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $87.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.78. Westlake Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $56.33 and a fifty-two week high of $114.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $1.22. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.22% and a negative net margin of 13.50%.The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 3rd. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -18.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total transaction of $3,004,304.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 627,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,507.54. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Westlake Profile

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.