Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 2,779 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 81.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,195 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,779 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,311,836 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $183,605,000 after acquiring an additional 675,725 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,142,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $159,917,000 after acquiring an additional 66,614 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Westlake in the fourth quarter worth about $50,961,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Westlake by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 352,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,395,000 after buying an additional 8,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Westlake by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 120,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $18,437,000 after buying an additional 3,041 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Westlake from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Westlake from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Westlake in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.19, for a total transaction of $753,340.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,141,779.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Westlake Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE WLK traded down $2.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $142.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 356,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 562,408. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The business’s 50 day moving average is $152.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.76. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $112.77 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The firm has a market cap of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.20.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.25. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.69% and a net margin of 2.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

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.