267,748 Shares in Westlake Corporation $WLK Purchased by Jupiter Topco LLC

Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 267,748 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,544,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 4,386,635 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $324,348,000 after buying an additional 472,224 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 7,239.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,220,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $312,080,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,207 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $289,647,000 after acquiring an additional 477,698 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at $240,474,000. Finally, Capital World Investors bought a new position in Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at $160,548,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total transaction of $3,120,724.44. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares in the company, valued at $51,610,406.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WLK shares. 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. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Westlake from $127.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.92.

Westlake Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $75.87 on Friday. Westlake Corporation has a twelve month low of $56.33 and a twelve month high of $124.23. The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a PE ratio of -7.92 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%.The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.11) EPS. Analysts expect that Westlake Corporation will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a $0.533 dividend. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 currently -22.23%.

About Westlake

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.