Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 29,726 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Westlake worth $11,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Westlake by 1.1% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 7,855 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 3.8% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 3.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Westlake by 4.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,911 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler cut their price target 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, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.83.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $114.28 on Monday. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $112.63 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.33. The firm has a market cap of $14.71 billion, a PE ratio of 160.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,758.72. This represents a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

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.