Freestone Grove Partners LP Takes Position in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 27,248 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,989,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Odyssean LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth $212,000. Man Group plc acquired a new position in Westlake in the second quarter valued at about $1,876,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Westlake in the second quarter valued at about $19,544,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter worth about $1,700,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter worth about $5,532,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WLK shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $75.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.92 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $76.09 and its 200-day moving average is $92.95. Westlake Corporation has a one year low of $56.33 and a one year high of $124.23. 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 (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%.The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.11) earnings per share. Westlake’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Westlake Corporation will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be given a dividend of $0.533 per share. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently -22.23%.

Westlake 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.