Quest Partners LLC Has $49,000 Stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 8,400.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $49,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Westlake in the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Westlake by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at $101,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 1st quarter worth $207,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 1st quarter worth about $230,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $157.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.00.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE WLK opened at $143.10 on Thursday. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $112.77 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $143.55 and a 200-day moving average of $148.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $18.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.91, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.18.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 105.53%.

Westlake Company Profile

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.