Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Holdings Trimmed by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP trimmed its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 26.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 104,320 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 37,289 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP’s holdings in Westlake were worth $11,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Westlake by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 14,742 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its position in Westlake by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 4,877 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Westlake by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,007 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $122.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.54.

Westlake Stock Down 1.0%

WLK stock opened at $71.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $70.28 and a 1 year high of $161.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.68. The firm has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a PE ratio of 100.90, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 70.47%.

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.