Engineers Gate Manager LP Acquires 28,802 Shares of Westlake Corporation $WLK

Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 67.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 28,802 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Westlake were worth $5,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the third quarter worth $28,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Westlake from $127.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Westlake from $104.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Westlake from $110.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $96.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.79.

Westlake Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $70.77 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $75.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.25. Westlake Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $124.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 0.63. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.11) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were given a $0.533 dividend. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -22.23%.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value 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 trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company produces chemicals, polymers and building products used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, consumer goods and other industrial applications.

Its Performance and Essential Materials businesses manufacture products such as chlor-alkali chemicals, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene, epoxy resins and related specialty materials.