Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Sold by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp lowered its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 89.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 18,622 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Westlake were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Westlake during the second quarter valued at approximately $544,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,179,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Westlake by 89.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,400,000 after purchasing an additional 20,913 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Westlake by 134.4% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,364 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Westlake by 15.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,085 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $7,377,000 after purchasing an additional 6,476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays upgraded Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Westlake has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.83.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $114.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The company has a market cap of $14.71 billion, a PE ratio of 160.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $126.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.43. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.63 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.20 EPS. Analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 295.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 74.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.