GSA Capital Partners LLP Buys New Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,796 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $420,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the first quarter worth approximately $43,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 8,400.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter worth $66,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 66.7% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake in the third quarter worth $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Westlake in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.17.

Westlake Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $127.93 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 180.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.86. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $118.64 and a 1 year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.76 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 295.77%.

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.