Inspire Investing LLC Has $1.16 Million Stock Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 22.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,024 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,328 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 2.6% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,302 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 1.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,554 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 3.8% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.3% in the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 40,228 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,147,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 3.4% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,518 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WLK shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho started coverage on Westlake in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $166.00.

Westlake Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE WLK opened at $146.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $112.77 and a 52 week high of $162.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $143.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued 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 dividend yield of 1.44%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 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.