Securian Asset Management Inc. Has $287,000 Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,503 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Westlake were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 699.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,445,000 after purchasing an additional 520,669 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth about $55,542,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 525.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 278,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $30,766,000 after purchasing an additional 233,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $19,718,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.07.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $105.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $112.58 and its 200-day moving average is $125.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a PE ratio of 149.25, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $104.74 and a 1-year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.36%.

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.