Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Purchased by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,178 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,512 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $9,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its position in Westlake by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Westlake by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on WLK shares. UBS Group raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.85.

Westlake Trading Up 0.1 %

WLK opened at $117.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 166.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $108.95 and a 52 week high of $162.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $120.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 295.77%.

About Westlake

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.