Hanlon Investment Management Inc. Invests $800,000 in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Hanlon Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 5,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 1st quarter valued at about $207,000. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Westlake in the first quarter worth about $230,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Westlake from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $174.00 in a report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.00.

Westlake Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $135.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.92, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $144.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $148.22. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $112.77 and a 52 week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.41. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.53%.

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.