Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 855,382 Shares of Westlake Corporation $WLK

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 23.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,866,360 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 855,382 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 2.23% of Westlake worth $220,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Huntington National Bank bought a new position in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 54.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 567 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 989.6% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Westlake by 180.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 740 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Alembic Global Advisors set a $80.00 price target on shares of Westlake in a report on Monday, November 17th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $83.00 target price (down from $91.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Westlake in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.92, for a total transaction of $1,756,916.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 44,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,484,178.36. The trade was a 28.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total value of $3,004,304.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 627,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,507.54. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK opened at $102.68 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Westlake Corporation has a 12 month low of $56.33 and a 12 month high of $113.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.78, a PEG ratio of 43.37 and a beta of 0.83.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $1.22. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 13.50% and a negative return on equity of 1.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is -18.12%.

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.