SummitTX Capital L.P. Invests $1.68 Million in Westlake Corporation $WLK

SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new stake in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 14,335 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,675,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Westlake by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,921 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 133.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 3.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 181,070 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $21,153,000 after purchasing an additional 6,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the first quarter valued at about $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Westlake from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Westlake from $110.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.64.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $72.28 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.47. Westlake Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $124.23. The company has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.69 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.67). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 14.91% and a negative return on equity of 1.89%. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.31) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Westlake Corporation will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently -16.69%.

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.