410 Shares in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Purchased by Brooklyn Investment Group

Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 410 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 17.9% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 24,490 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,742,000 after purchasing an additional 3,710 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the second quarter worth $544,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the second quarter worth $27,179,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 89.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,400,000 after purchasing an additional 20,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 134.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $227,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,239,420. This trade represents a 15.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $128.55 on Friday. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $118.64 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $137.53 and its 200 day moving average is $143.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.19.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. Westlake’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.20 EPS. Research analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.