State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $2.19 Million Stock Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,586 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 182 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Westlake were worth $2,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 1.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,554 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $849,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Westlake by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,518 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Westlake by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,300 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.17.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $126.69 on Friday. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $118.64 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $139.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.53. The firm has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a PE ratio of 178.44, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.19. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.