Kimelman & Baird LLC Purchases New Stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Westlake during the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth about $66,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in Westlake by 66.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth about $101,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WLK opened at $150.29 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.79. The company has a market capitalization of $19.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $112.77 and a 1-year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. Westlake’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.50.

Westlake 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.