15,919 Shares in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Purchased by Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 15,919 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,825,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 247.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 1,668.2% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 84.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Westlake from $155.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.25.

Westlake Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $93.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.25, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake Co. has a 52-week low of $81.41 and a 52-week high of $161.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $100.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.53.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.36%.

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.