Tidal Investments LLC Acquires 28,235 Shares of Westlake Corporation $WLK

Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 59.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 76,055 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,235 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $5,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at about $14,062,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the second quarter valued at $1,117,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,544,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 53.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 17,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Westlake by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 236,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,685,000 after buying an additional 52,551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK stock opened at $70.77 on Monday. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $124.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.79 and a 200 day moving average of $91.24. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 0.63.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%.The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.11) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a $0.533 dividend. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently -22.23%.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In related news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of Westlake 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 completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WLK shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Westlake from $110.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.79.

About Westlake

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.