Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Boosts Stock Position in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 21.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 536,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 94,950 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC owned about 0.42% of Westlake worth $39,653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Westlake by 90.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 38,687 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,869,000 after acquiring an additional 18,321 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Westlake by 9.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,881,000 after buying an additional 1,668 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in Westlake during the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 43.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,350 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Westlake by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,788 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WLK shares. UBS Group set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Westlake and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Westlake from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Westlake from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.29.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $86.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a PE ratio of -6.82 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $106.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.55. Westlake Corporation has a twelve month low of $56.33 and a twelve month high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.67). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 14.91% and a negative return on equity of 1.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.31) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Westlake Corporation will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -16.69%.

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.