Hsbc Holdings PLC Takes $1.70 Million Position in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at $14,062,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Westlake in the second quarter worth about $1,117,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Westlake by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,715 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 17,689 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Westlake by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 236,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,685,000 after buying an additional 52,551 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,036,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WLK. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Westlake from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.92.

Westlake Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE WLK opened at $75.87 on Monday. Westlake Corporation has a 12 month low of $56.33 and a 12 month high of $124.23. The company has a market capitalization of $9.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.92 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.11) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Westlake Corporation will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be given a dividend of $0.533 per share. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently -22.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total transaction of $3,120,724.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,610,406.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Westlake Company 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.