Sprott Inc. Increases Holdings in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Sprott Inc. increased its holdings in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 4.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 130,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Sprott Inc.’s holdings in Westlake were worth $10,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its position in shares of Westlake by 246.0% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,456,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,621,000 after buying an additional 1,035,851 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $104,314,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Westlake by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 546,151 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,923,000 after purchasing an additional 25,414 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 422,640 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,569,000 after purchasing an additional 67,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 12,724.7% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 351,011 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,652,000 after purchasing an additional 348,274 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total transaction of $3,004,304.52. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 627,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,507.54. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.92, for a total value of $1,756,916.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,484,178.36. This represents a 28.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Westlake from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $82.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Westlake from $100.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Westlake from $92.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.80.

Westlake Stock Up 1.3%

WLK opened at $106.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.70 billion, a PE ratio of -9.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 42.79 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Westlake Corporation has a 52 week low of $56.33 and a 52 week high of $114.75.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $1.22. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.22% and a negative net margin of 13.50%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.06 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -18.12%.

Westlake Company Profile

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.