New York State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,202 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Westlake by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,037 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,284,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,254,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 14,771 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,257,000 after purchasing an additional 2,382 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WLK shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.92.

Westlake Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $132.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.09. The firm has a market cap of $16.99 billion, a PE ratio of 186.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.19. Westlake Co. has a twelve month low of $118.64 and a twelve month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.