11,700 Shares in Westlake Corporation $WLK Bought by Marnell Management LLC

Marnell Management LLC bought a new position in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 11,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $865,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Westlake by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $289,647,000 after purchasing an additional 477,698 shares during the period. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Westlake in the 4th quarter worth $160,548,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Westlake by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,885,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $139,431,000 after purchasing an additional 585,438 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its position in Westlake by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,670,327 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,505,000 after purchasing an additional 121,633 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Westlake by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,396,633 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $103,267,000 after purchasing an additional 101,391 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $119.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.36.

Westlake Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of WLK opened at $88.63 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $101.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.98 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Westlake Corporation has a 1-year low of $56.33 and a 1-year high of $124.23.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently -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.