Quadrature Capital Ltd Purchases 9,094 Shares of Westlake Corporation $WLK

Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its position in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 395.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,392 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 9,094 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Westlake were worth $865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Westlake by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.1% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 5,020 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 54.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 567 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 49.9% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 640 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in Westlake by 66.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (down previously from $91.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Truist Financial set a $90.00 target price on shares of Westlake and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Westlake from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.67.

Westlake Stock Up 3.3%

WLK opened at $66.84 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.49. The company has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, a PE ratio of -126.10 and a beta of 0.95. Westlake Corporation has a 1-year low of $56.33 and a 1-year high of $129.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.47). Westlake had a positive return on equity of 1.26% and a negative net margin of 0.57%.The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -28.57%.

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.