Polymer Capital Management US LLC Invests $1.01 Million in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,009,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WLK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Westlake by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $444,610,000 after buying an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Westlake by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $379,933,000 after acquiring an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Westlake by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $180,154,000 after purchasing an additional 9,838 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 557,943 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,832,000 after purchasing an additional 5,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at $46,630,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler cut shares of Westlake from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $136.50.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of WLK opened at $88.54 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $108.44 and a 200-day moving average of $121.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The company has a market capitalization of $11.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $84.31 and a 1 year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.