1,516 Shares in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Bought by Peterson Wealth Services

Peterson Wealth Services acquired a new position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,516 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 236 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,528 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,473,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 17,569 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,190,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.9% during the first quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 9,443 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 19.3% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 599 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Westlake Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WLK opened at $148.95 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $146.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.30. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $103.28 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.09). Westlake had a net margin of 3.82% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WLK. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Bank of America raised Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $174.00 in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Westlake from $140.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,804 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.02, for a total transaction of $677,460.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,389,052.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,804 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.02, for a total value of $677,460.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,389,052.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total value of $560,371.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,658 shares of company stock worth $1,923,225 in the last three months. 74.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.